Editorial
UCLA
Daily Bruin, July 8, 2002
The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Palestinian suicide bombings are acts so egregious, the University of California has no business associating itself with either side of the conflict in any way.
Some 165 University of California professors have recognized this, signing a petition requesting that the UC divest from Israel. The hope is that the dissent of large Israeli corporations from their government's military actions, as a result of divestment, can bring the region's humans rights violations to a close where other measures have failed. Governments may be bull-headed in foreign relations, but they are rarely so stubborn when dealing with their wealthy citizens, who can threaten to move their corporate operations to other countries to avoid losing money to protesting stock-holders.
When the university invests in Israeli corporations, the profits, in turn, are taxed by the Israeli government and help support the occupation of the West Bank, as well as other militaristic ventures. Private institutions can do as they please with their money, but the UC is funded in part by taxpayers, not all of which support helping Israel fight Palestinians, or vice versa, however indirect the assistance may be. While divestment from Israeli corporations is justified, it doesn't imply Israelis are the sole bearers of blame for the human rights violations. If the Palestinians had their own state, the UC would have an obligation to withdraw its investments from there as well.
The UC's investment portfolio is not independent of its social responsibilities. In 1984, the UC divested from South Africa because it, too, was clearly violating human rights during apartheid. But the UC has still not divested from Burma, even though its investments there help fund the economic infrastructure which supports a totalitarian government. In this case, and in the case of Israel, there should be no ambiguity about the UC's responsibility; it needs to divest immediately.