The University of California Riverside capitulated Friday to the demands of pro-Palestinian activists at a campus “encampment,” breaking with the rest of the University of California (UC) system to consider divesting from Israel.
The activists, part of a nationwide effort by anti-Israel activists and organizations — which may have foreign funding, according to the New York City Police Department — also demanded that UC Riverside boycott Israeli universities.
Local KTLA 5 reported:
The encampment began on April 29 as protestors occupied the area beside Bell Tower. The movement was led by the university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
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The UCR Administration agrees to form a task force that includes students appointed by ASUCR’s Diversity Council and faculty appointed by the Academic Senate to explore the removal of UCR’s endowment from the management of the UC Investments Office, and the investment of said endowment in a manner that will be financially and ethically sound for the university with consideration to the companies involved in arms manufacturing and delivery.
…The School of Business has discontinued Global Programs in Oxford, USA, Cuba, Vietnam, Brazil, China, Egypt, Jordan, and Israel.
The UC Riverside chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) portrayed the terms of the deal somewhat differently, claiming triumphantly on Instagram that the institution suspended “all study abroad programs with Israel.”
In addition, SJP claimed that UC Riverside had committed to boycotting the Sabra brand of hummus. “Sabra” is a Hebrew word referring to a native-born Israeli. Some activists claim that Middle Eastern foods like hummus are “stolen” by Israel from Arabs. (Sabra is based in the U.S.)
In return, the students in the encampment agreed to take down their tents, having “won” through coercion.
But it is not clear how UC Riverside’s agreement will comport with existing California law that prevents anti-Israel boycotts, known as “anti-BDS” (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) legislation. In 2016, then-Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed AB 2844, which stipulates the following:
It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that taxpayer funds are not used to do business with or otherwise support any state or private entity that engages in discriminatory actions against individuals under the pretext of exercising First Amendment rights. This includes, but is not limited to, discriminatory actions taken against individuals of the Jewish faith under the pretext of a constitutionally protected boycott or protest of the State of Israel.
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A person that submits a bid or proposal to, or otherwise proposes to enter into or renew a contract with, a state agency with respect to any contract in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) or more shall certify, under penalty of perjury, at the time the bid or proposal is submitted or the contract is renewed … That any policy that they have against any sovereign nation or peoples recognized by the government of the United States, including, but not limited to, the nation and people of Israel, is not used to discriminate in violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Section 51 of the Civil Code) or the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 12960) of Part 2.8 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
UC Riverside joins Brown University as the first institutions to give in to demands that they consider divestment from Israel. However, it is not clear whether UC Riverside can fulfill that demand independently of the UC system’s own policy against divesting from Israel.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
