Yale University’s student government passed a resolution on June 27 that accused Israel of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing,” among other things.
The Yale College Council (YCC) passed the resolution by a vote of 8-3 with four members abstaining, according to Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The resolution, authored by Yalies 4 Palestine as well as Yale’s Middle Eastern and North African Cultural Center and Arab Students Association, states: “As Yale students, we condemn the injustice, genocide, and ethnic cleansing occurring in Palestine.” It added that the condemnation wasn’t “political” because “we must call out injustice wherever it may occur. We stand against the discriminatory application of the law that strips Palestinians of basic rights. We stand against the violent expulsions of those living under occupation in Sheikh Jarrah. We stand against the apartheid and the persecution of Palestinians.”
The resolution also states that “the fight against Israel’s apartheid is interconnected with the fight to defund the police in the US. Our goal is to create a collective liberation movement that stands against racial injustice and policing worldwide, from Minneapolis to Palestine.”
The Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale issued a statement to community members criticizing the resolution for depicting “the Jewish state as an agent of the world’s most reprehensible forces and guilty of the most unspeakable crimes – in other words, demonically. This genealogy may be invisible to its authors and adherents because the outsized perfidy they ascribe to the Jewish state is formulated in distinctly contemporary terms – but is clear, terrifying, and familiar to us,” according to The Forward. The Algemeiner also quoted the Slifka statement as saying, “Tonight’s decision was not in keeping with the YCC’s stated mission of ‘protecting student rights and freedoms; fostering school unity and pride.’ It was a betrayal of this promise of protection and a blow to the moral fibre that binds Yale and humanity together.”
Other Jewish groups denounced the resolution.
“We condemn these blatant lies and hate being spread!” StandWithUs tweeted.
Disgusting! A resolution has been approved by Yale’s student council accusing #Israel of genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
We condemn these blatant lies and hate being spread!https://t.co/9UyCYqOtxB
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) July 1, 2021
Combat Antisemitism tweeted that Yale “Jewish students are on edge” following the passage of the resolution.
Jewish students are on edge after a vehemently anti-Israel statement was adopted on Sunday by the Yale College Council (@theYCCtweets) that condemned the “injustice, genocide, and ethnic cleansing occurring in Palestine.”https://t.co/OejwOvwAOd
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) June 29, 2021
Club Z, a Zionist youth group for teens, tweeted that the resolution was “antisemitism at Yale University” and “didn’t contain a word about Israeli deaths.”
Antisemitism at Yale University. A resolution adopted by the university’s undergrad student government, condemned the “injustice, genocide, and ethnic cleansing occurring in Palestine.”
The statement didn't contain a word about Israeli deaths. https://t.co/kLRD7nQOJp
— Club Z (@ClubZTeens) June 29, 2021
On the other hand, a coalition of Yale Jewish students and alumni signed a letter expressing solidarity with the resolution. “We demand that our fellow Jews end the stigma around Palestine and challenge their families, schools, and synagogues to oppose Israel’s violence. We implore the American Jewish establishment to stop conflating Jewish identity with the state of Israel and to condemn Israel’s systematic human rights violations.”
The university said in a statement to the Journal, “The YCC is the elected representative body for Yale College students, and its endorsements and statements do not presume to represent the university’s views or even those of all its undergraduates. The university supports all students in the free exchange of ideas and reaffirms Yale’s longstanding commitment to inclusivity and belonging. The university encourages Yale College students to communicate directly with the YCC if they feel their representatives do not reflect their views.”
This article has been updated.
