WSN ran a recent opinion piece by NYU Students for Justice in Palestine (“Divestment: a strategy to end the Israeli occupation in Palestine,” on April 13, 2011) that raises some interesting questions. The piece explored the NYU community’s response to Students for Justice in Palestine’s recent petition. This petition called on TIAA-CREF, a financial services firm used by NYU to build faculty members’ retirement and pension plans, to divest from companies affiliated with Israel. SJP’s petition was publicized with tabling over the last two weeks, kicked off with a rally in the Schwartz Plaza on Tuesday, April 5.
Just the week before the April 5 rally, Artists 4 Israel, a group unaffiliated with NYU, came to Washington Square Park with their purpose to “Educate about Israel’s… struggle for survival and ongoing effort to achieve a peaceful existence.” Artists 4 Israel had set up their bomb shelter exhibit in the center of the park. The piece was meant to inform the public on the situation facing Jews living in southern Israel who are showered with rockets from Gaza on a daily basis. Overall, the exhibit was extremely successful; students showed their support and an educational atmosphere pervaded. NYU SJP did have a presence and showed up in force, armed with their posters and graphic images. Those SJP members that day added an extra jingle to their repertoire: “Intifada, Intifada!”
This was extremely offensive and worrisome for the pro-Israel community on campus, as Intifada, which literally translates to “uprising,” is a call for violence and terrorism against not only Israel, but the Jewish people as a whole. The series of events that is now known as “The Second Intifada” left more than 1,000 Jews, over 60 of whom were foreign visitors to Israel, brutally murdered in suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks all throughout the country. It is especially disheartening to hear these slogans on campus, because it seems that not only are our calls for peace unanswered, but they are challenged with calls for violent war.
Aside from the seriously questionable and offensive claims brought by SJP’s campaign for divestment, there is a simple logical fallacy in SJP’s argument and petition. TIAA-CREF is an investment firm that handles investments made on behalf of NYU professors. As a user of TIAA-CREF, one has the deliberate choice to, or not to, invest in certain companies.
TIAA-CREF by no means automatically invests any person’s money. TIAA-CREF claims to do extensive research on the companies they list as investment options, as their Web site says, “TIAA-CREF offers comprehensively screened investment portfolios… that are aligned with investors’ values by giving special consideration to companies’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) records.” All clients have the ability to choose precisely where they personally feel comfortable and secure investing their money, from a social awareness perspective. Investing in companies with ties to Israel is an individual decision, one not forced in any way by TIAA-CREF. If TIAA-CREF gives the power to its educated users, what exactly could SJP be protesting?
While pro-Israel supporters on campus called for “Peace. Shalom. Salaam,” SJP called for divestment, and other forms of negative campaigning. It is interesting that SJP claims they are “supporters of equal rights for all.” If all people were given equal rights in Palestinian-ruled Gaza – Jews, Christians, homosexuals and women alike – then maybe their claim would be a bit more substantial. Palestinians living in Jordan, Egypt and other Muslim countries are denied basic resources and rights while those living in Israel benefit from the public health care and school systems. It seems that SJP only has time to defend those living in “Palestine,” when their brothers in neighboring Muslim countries need their help and voice just as badly. While we the boards of Gesher and Violets for Israel do not swear by Israel’s perfection, we feel these attacks and accusations of SJP that target Israel are extremely exaggerated. If it is not justice for Palestinians that SJP is asking for, what exactly is SJP’s true goal?
