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Group requesting Israel divestment

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Also by Sundeep Malladi:

In-Depth: What's affected by budget cuts? (September 1, 2005)
In-Depth: Letter and the law (October 13, 2005)

by Sundeep Malladi

Friday, February 18, 2005

The University of Wisconsin student organization Al-Awda (Palestine Right to Return Coalition) began a campaign to convince faculty senates across the UW System to pass resolutions calling for divestment of funds from organizations selling arms and equipment to the Israeli military.

So far the group has visited both UW-Platteville and UW-Whitewater and convinced the former to pass the resolution.

According to UW teaching assistant and Al-Awda member Mohammed Abed, the group is an international organization working to educate and improve the rights of Palestinian refugees expelled when Israel was founded in 1948.

“It aims to shed some light on the plight of the refugees,” Abed said. “It calls for the return to their homeland.”

Abed said UW investment in companies such as Raytheon, Northrop-Grumman, Caterpillar, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics should stop. According to Abed, the investment should stop, since Israel is guilty of committing serious human-rights violations, and individuals need to also understand the current political turmoil in Palestine.

“Any person of Jewish descent can come and live in Israel and gain subsidies and benefits from the state,” Abed said. “But Palestinians who have been expelled are not allowed to return.”

Still, UW’s divestment from companies providing tools for the Israeli military may not garner much support.

In a Dec. 15 letter from UW Board of Regents Business and Finance Committee Chair Mark Bradley to Al-Awda, Bradley wrote even if Caterpillar, Inc. were not allowed to supply bulldozers to the U.S. government to turn over to the Israeli military, bulldozers could be generated from other American companies.

“Thus, we believe that divesting, even if it could result in Caterpillar ceasing to supply Israel with bulldozers, would have no impact on halting the practices of the Israeli army,” the letter read.

Others disagree with Al-Awda’s decision to campaign across the UW System.

Hillel Executive Director Greg Steinberger said he did not think the campaign held merit, since Whitewater’s decision was struck down by a two-thirds majority.

Steinberger added UW-Platteville’s situation was unfair, since the only opposing viewpoints presented to the committee were presented in a single presentation from a Jewish group in Dubuque, while Al-Awda had the benefit of three presentations to the UW-Platteville faculty senate.

“There’s this moment of hope and peace in the Middle East, and here are folks using the notion of human rights to talk about slandering Israel,” Steinberger said. “They are not necessarily interested in a moderate change.”

American companies should not be held liable for what Israel is doing overseas, he added.

“The Israelis buy the bulldozer, and then they retrofit it. That doesn’t mean Caterpillar is to blame,” Steinberger said.

According to UW professor of political science and faculty senate member Donald Downs, the resolution has not reached the Madison faculty senate.

Still, Abed points to the similarities of this situation to a 1980s UW case in which the UW System Board of Regents pulled support out of South Africa during apartheid.

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Anonymous (February 18, 2005 @ 10:13am):

I request that this terrorist group go fuck themselves.

Anonymous (February 18, 2005 @ 11:11am):

Lovely,
Another blind fool.

Anonymous (February 18, 2005 @ 11:39am):

Re: "I request that this terrorist group go fuck themselves."

I agree, Sharon needs to put the kabosh on his terrorist goons. Do these people really think they can disposses people of their homes, bulldoze neighborhoods, and that it'll be received with goodwill and friendship?

Idiots.

Anonymous (February 18, 2005 @ 7:58pm):

Hey, why the hell are you interviewing the Hillel guy in here, his group is supposed to be a Jewish cultural groups, what does it have to do with Israel? or even politics for that matter?

Anonymous (February 19, 2005 @ 11:05am):

I request that the university divest itself from investing in any country with a human rights record worse than Israel's. That includes Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Kuwait, Algeria, Indonesia, Nigeria, and the Palestinian territories. And what do all these nations have in common? They're all majority Arab and/or Muslim.

By any objective standard, Israel has a better human rights record than at least 80% of the world's nations. If you divest from Israel on the grounds of human rights violations, but not from any of the nations with worse records, the only possible conclusion is that you're motivated by anti-Semitism.

Anonymous (February 19, 2005 @ 11:06am):

"Hey, why the hell are you interviewing the Hillel guy in here, his group is supposed to be a Jewish cultural groups, what does it have to do with Israel? or even politics for that matter?"

Israel is a key component of Jewish culture, dumbass.

Anonymous (February 19, 2005 @ 8:46pm):

Well, unless Jews learn the difference between themselves and Israel, they should not blame anybody for not being able to make the distinction. Israel is making too many enemies, you know?

Anonymous (February 20, 2005 @ 12:36am):

"Well, unless Jews learn the difference between themselves and Israel, they should not blame anybody for not being able to make the distinction. Israel is making too many enemies, you know?"

I think most Jews do know the difference, and it's anti-Semitic idiots like you who are the majority of Israel's enemies. With enemies like you, why shouldn't we identify with Israel?

Anonymous (February 20, 2005 @ 10:07am):

The notion that anyone who doesn't believe that Israel is beyond criticism is (*all together now*) "anti-semetic" is just retarded. It's a hamhanded way to innoculate the Sharon gov't againt legitimate critique.

Constantly playing that card doesn't help your credibility.

Anonymous (February 20, 2005 @ 12:32pm):

"The notion that anyone who doesn't believe that Israel is beyond criticism is (*all together now*) "anti-semetic" is just retarded. It's a hamhanded way to innoculate the Sharon gov't againt legitimate critique.

Constantly playing that card doesn't help your credibility."

And constantly claiming that they're claiming that anybody who criticizes Israel is ANTI-SEMITIC (you could at least learn how to spell the word, you moron) doesn't help your credibility.

The posters you criticize make a good point, which you're completely ignoring. When you cite Israel for violating human rights of Palestinians but Israel is usually acting in self-defense, and you not only fail but refuse to cite Palestinians for intentionally murdering civilians, and you also refuse to cite surrounding nations for their much harsher human rights violations, you're either an idiot or you're intentionally ignoring everything else and focusing only on Israel. Since the only thing that's different about Israel is that it's a Jewish state, why the hell shouldn't they believe you're focusing only on Israel because you're anti-Semitic?

Look, I criticize a lot of the things Israel does too, but I don't ignore the FACT that there is a mitigating context to the actions that Israel takes. If you took a truly objective viewpoint, you would see there is no such mitigating context for Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians, and there is no question that the Arab nations that surround Israel have some of the worst human rights records in the world. Yet you not only let them off the hook, you blame their offenses on Israel! Newsflash, hotshot -- that makes you an anti-Semite.

Anonymous (February 20, 2005 @ 6:45pm):

+ On September 20, 2004 masked members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
publicly murdered two Palestinians suspected of working for the Israeli
security service. Fadel Odeh and Amjad Ajaj, both in their early 20s were
killed in front of a large crowd, including school children in Tulkarm. The
pair were seized about two weeks ago in their village of Saida.

+ On August 29, 2004, Hasan Abu Safiyeh, 19, was executed in the center of
Ramallah by masked members of the Fatah Tanzim terrorist organization. A
spokesman for the terrorists told reporters that Abu Safiyeh had been
providing intelligence information to the Israeli security services.

+ On August 2, 2004, a Palestinian Authority policeman threw a hand grenade
into the jail cell of an accused Israeli agent in Gaza. Walid Hamadiya, was
seriously injured along with six other suspected Israeli agents.

+ On July 2, 2004, Fatah Tanzim terrorist carried out the execution style
murder of Qabatiya resident Muhammad Rafiq Abdel Razek, before a cheering
crowd. Abdel Rzaek was suspected of providing intelligence to the Israeli
security services.

+ In April 2004, Fatah terrorist in Gaza City displayed two captives, a
father and son, accused of having assisted Israel in the targeted killing of
Hamas leader Abdel aziz Rantisi at a press conference. It is not known if
the pair have been murdered.

+ In February 2004, Fatah terrorists in Ramallah shot to death Palestinian
taxi driver Tahseen Abu Arkub, 50, an al-Bira area resident. A masked
spokesman for the organization alleged that Abu Arkub had assisted the
Israel Defense Forces in identifying and arresting fugitive Palestinians.

"We shot him dead with four bullets to the head and chest in Ramallah
because he was a collaborator who has helped Israel kill and detain many
Palestinians," an unidentified Palestinian told the Reuters news agency. Abu
Arkub's son had also been killed by Al-Aqsa Brigade terrorists last year.

+ On January 25, 2004, Fatah Tanzim murdered another suspected Israeli
agent, Nidal al-Dabbik, 27, in Nablus.

+ In October 2003, Palestinian gunmen killed Nasser Kalawleh, 25, in
Ramallah, alleging he was also working for Israel.

+ In September 2003, terrorist claimed responsibility for the murder of an
accused operative in Tulkarm. Fida Tirawi, 27, was shot to death in a
hospital ward as he was recovering from surgery.

+ In July 2003, Al-Aqsa Brigade assassins murdered Qaad Abu Shalbayah in
Ramallah after accusing him of working for Israel's General Security
Service. Abu Shalbayah had been in Palestinian police custody and on his way
to court when three masked men ambushed and killed him. The police officers
escorting Abu Shalbayah made no effort to protect him nor did they seek to
capture the masked assailants as they fled. Eyewitnesses to the shooting in
Ramallah have told Shurat HaDin that the "hit" on Abu Shalbayah was "quite
obviously arranged by his police guards."

Since the signing of the Oslo agreements between Israel and the PLO in 1993,
several hundred suspected Israeli agents have been murdered by Palestinian
terrorist groups. To date, the PA police have never conducted any
investigation into the killings nor have they made any arrests of suspects.