The CUNY Law School faculty council approved an anti-Israel resolution supporting the pro-Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
The professors on May 12 voted to endorse the BDS resolution that previously passed the CUNY Law Student Government Association last December, a spokesperson for the law school said.
The vote was taken a day before CUNY Law School’s graduation ceremony last Friday.
No other details about the vote were available on Wednesday.
The resolution discusses the disputed territories occupied by Israel in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
“The unceasing military occupation and colonization of Palestine by the Israeli state is a manifestation of both settler colonialism and structural racism, supported politically, financially, and militarily by the U.S,” the resolution said.
The resolution demanded that CUNY sever ties with Israel and accused the school of being “directly complicit in the ongoing apartheid, genocide, and war crimes perpetrated by the State of Israel against the Palestinian people through its investments in and contracts with companies profiting off of Israeli war crimes.”
The group called for the school to terminate student exchange programs with Israel and to join the Boycott Divest Sanctions movement against the nation.
The Israel-Palestinian dispute has raged in recent years among faculty and students at a number of City University of New York campuses. Students on both sides claim they have been subjected to bullying and discrimination.
Meanwhile, CUNY administrators, including Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez and campus presidents, recently returned from a mission to Israel. The mission was co-sponsored by the New York Jewish Community Relations Council and a clear indication that CUNY brass opposes the BDS movement.
The union representing CUNY professors also caused a stir last year by passing a one-sided resolution criticizing Israel aggression in the ongoing conflict. Pro-Israel professors quit CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress union in protest.
Not even ice cream has escaped the heated debate. Ben & Jerry’s provoked a backlash when it announced it would not sell its ice cream in the disputed territories.
