UC Davis student government president vetoes boycott Israel resolution
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — The president of the student government at the University of California, Davis, vetoed a resolution supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
The day after the measure passed last week, Kyle Krueger said he acted “because it included minimal to no input from the Jewish community beforehand,” and the resolution “has been widely condemned by Jewish students of many different sects/beliefs who feel marginalized by ASUCD and its actions.”
The Associated Students, University of California Davis, or ASUCD, had passed the measure in a 5-4 vote with one abstention, the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles reported Monday.
It was the third time the student senate had passed such resolutions in the past several years, but the others were overturned — once by a student court and once by the campus Judicial Council.
Krueger said in a statement defending his decision that he has “been humbled by (the) overall nuance and complexity” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“As a 20-year old who has not finished a college degree and who is not from Palestinian or Jewish descent, I do not feel qualified to make a decision about one of the most complex international conflicts in the world on my own,” he said.
Krueger said the student government has failed the campus Jewish community, pointing to a history of anti-Semitism on campus, and acknowledged that ASUCD must be an ally to Palestinian students as well.
“But our respect for the Palestinian community cannot come at the expense of the respect for the Jewish community,” his statement also said.
The post UC Davis student government president vetoes boycott Israel resolution appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
