British National Students Union Votes 19-4 for BDS
The British National Union of Students voted to boycott Israeli companies and align with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
In a 19-4 vote with one abstention, the confederation of 600 student unions across the United Kingdom passed the pro-BDS proposal on Tuesday at a meeting of its National Executive Council.
The motion “condemns Israeli military presence in the West Bank and Gaza,” according to the Jewish Chronicle, and calls on students to “co-ordinate a nationwide student day of action to commemorate UN Palestine Solidarity Day” on Nov. 29.
Titled Solidarity with Palestine: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, the motion was proposed by the School of Oriental and African Studies students union in London.
In response to the vote, the British Union of Jewish Students said in a statement, “This motion passing divides student groups, undermines interfaith relations and suffocates progressive voices for peace on both side. It is disturbing that supposed representatives of students throughout the UK have joined a movement that at the core is not progressive or constructive in supporting two states for two peoples.”
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Israel told the Times of Israel that the vote had “little practical implications, since this body has already voiced anti-Israel opinions in the past.”
“Instead of expressing hatred, British students would benefit from studying history and understanding that the distance between conveying hate language and prejudice to committing despicable crimes is not that great,” the spokesman said.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
