TEL AVIV – An Israeli citizen co-authored a resolution passed by New York University’s student government calling on the school to divest from companies that do business with Israel and are involved in “murdering brown people across the globe.”
Rose Asaf co-authored the resolution along with Leen Dweik and Bayan Abubakr, two students affiliated with the rabidly anti-Israel campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the Haaretz daily reported.
The university stated its opposition to the resolution, which calls for it to divest from Caterpillar, General Electric and Lockheed Martin, as well as “any other companies involved in the violation of Palestinian human rights and human rights globally.”
“NYU’s investment in the below mentioned companies plays an active role in funding and perpetuating Israel’s illegal occupation and its violation of human rights, making NYU complicit in these crimes,” the BDS resolution stated.
The resolution passed the student government on Thursday with 35 votes in favor and 14 against, along with 14 abstentions.
“I approached it as an Israeli Jew,” Asaf told Haaretz. “When Israeli Jews speak up about these issues, people listen. I need to use my voice to uplift Palestinian voices.”
“It really comes down to the fact that my tuition money, that I pay to NYU, is being used in violation of international law. When other students realize that, they are going to be just as angry, and take similar actions,” she added.
“The resolution will help my family in Israel, along with Palestinians,” she said. “In my mind, I know that this is a movement that will bring justice for my family and for Palestinians, and I really believe it.”
She said her family supports her, but “it doesn’t mean they always support my politics.”
Asaf, who was born in the U.S., admitted that her family is concerned about the possible repercussions of her actions following the case of American student and BDS activist Lara Alqasem, who was detained for two weeks and recently began studies in Jerusalem after a deportation order was overturned by the Supreme Court.
“I’m very fortunate that, right now, the BDS ban only applies to foreign nationals,” says Asaf. “Since I have an Israeli passport, I, unlike others, am not banned from seeing my family. You know, Lara Alqasem and I are so different in our privilege, because she is Palestinian and I’m Israeli.”
Pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs slammed the resolution, calling it “discriminatory” and “hateful.”
The co-authors of the resolution charged the companies in question with being complicit in the murder of “hundreds of Palestinian children” and aiding the Israeli army in “systematically” demolishing Palestinian homes.
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