In an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Joseph Edelman voiced his opposition to a divestment vote in Israel, particularly in the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, and announced he would be stepping down from his position as a trustee at Brown University.
“As a member of the Brown University Board of Trustees, I oppose a vote to divest from Israel,” Edelman wrote. “I am concerned that Brown's proposed vote signals a stance the university takes against growing anti-Semitism on campus and a growing political movement that calls for the destruction of the state of Israel.”
Brown University and other elite universities have been thrown into turmoil by student protests on their campuses in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. Student protesters are calling on Brown and other universities to disclose and divest from investments in companies and organizations linked to Israel and Hamas. To IsraelThey also called for a ceasefire in the ongoing war.
Brown University caves to anti-Israel protesters, agrees to divestment in exchange for closing camp
In an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Joseph Edelman voiced his opposition to a divestment vote in Israel, particularly in the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, and announced he would be stepping down from his position as a trustee at Brown University. (Getty Images)
“I find it morally reprehensible that a divestment referendum should even be considered, especially since it would come after the worst attacks on Jewish people since the Holocaust.” Edelman writes:.
Edelman criticized Brown University's Board of Trustees, arguing that the university made its decision based on fear of student activists on campus.
“I am not suggesting that any actual principles influenced Brown's decision to hold a divestment vote. It was based not on facts or values but on softness toward student activists,” Edelman wrote. “For some reason, university leadership chose to reward, rather than punish, activists who were disrupting campus life, breaking school rules, and inciting violence and anti-Semitism at Brown.”
38% of Brown University students identify as LGBTQ+
“Brown's leadership acknowledges that the looming divestment vote is designed to buy good deeds from pro-Hamas activists, many of whom are supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which seeks to destroy the Jewish state through political and economic warfare,” he wrote.
“How can Brown University trust anti-Semitic voices who began protesting in support of violence against Jews even before Israel responded to the Oct. 7 attacks? It is as if the Brown University Board of Trustees had agreed to vote on whether Israel has a right to defend itself, whether Israel has a right to exist, and even whether the Jewish people have a right to exist?”
Brown University did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News' Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
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