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Brown University Rejects BDS Proposal
More than 200 Brown University students gathered outside University Hall where roughly 40 students sat inside demanding the school divest from weapons manufacturers amid the Israel-Hamas war. Photo: Amy Russo / USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
The Brown University Corporation has voted down a proposal — muscled onto the agenda of its annual meeting by an anti-Zionist group which held the university hostage with threats of illegal demonstrations and other misconduct — to divest from ten companies linked to Israel, according to an announcement from the University.
According to the university, the Corporation heeded the counsel of the Advisory Committee on University Resources Management (ACURM), which witnessed earlier this semester a presentation — delivered by the pro-Hamas group Brown Divest Coalition (BDC) — in support of divestment and recommended that it be turned down. Brown University president Christina Paxson concealed ACURM’s opinion from the public, ostensibly to shield it from political pressure, but the decision had the effect of fueling speculation that the body, which once recommended divestment several years ago, had done so again.
“The Corporation also discussed the broader issue of whether taking a stance on a geopolitical issue through divestment is consistent with Brown’s mission of education and scholarship. The Corporation reaffirmed that Brown’s mission is to discover, communicate, and preserve knowledge. It is not to adjudicate or resolve global conflicts,” president Paxson and Brown Corporation chancellor Brian T. Moynihan said on Wednesday in a letter commenting on the vote.
They continued, “The manner in which our community now reflects on this decision creates an opportunity. Throughout our history, Brown as a community has been guided, even when we disagree with each other, by a deeply held campus culture characterized by mutual respect, support for each other, empathy, understanding of differences and, importantly, a willingness to engage in constructive dialogue regarding these differences. Whether you support, oppose or have no opinion on the decision of the Corporation, we hope you will do so with a commitment to sustaining, nurturing, and strengthening the principles that have long been at the core of our teaching and learning community.”
Brooke Verschleiser, a third-year Brown University student and biochemistry major who helped lead the effort of Jewish students to oppose divestment, told The Algemeiner on Wednesday that she commends the Corporation’s prudence.
“We are pleased that ACURM followed its charge and that the Corporation made its decision based on the facts and appropriate guidelines,” Verschleiser said. ” We echo President Paxson’s hope that the community will uphold its culture of ‘mutual respect, support for each other, empathy, understanding of differences, and, importantly, a willingness to engage in constructive dialogue.”
The Brown Corporation’s mere consideration of the divestment proposal, which many argued would descend the university into the paranoia and hatred of antisemitic conspiracy, set off waves of opposition over the past several weeks.
Last month, Joseph Edelman, a trustee of the Corporation has resigned from his position, condemning the vote as a betrayal of the Jewish community.
“I disagree with the upcoming divestment vote on Israel,” Edelman, a hedge fund manager, wrote in an op-ed explaining his decision. “I am concerned about what Brown’s willingness to hold such a vote suggests about the university’s attitude toward rising antisemitism on campus and a growing political movement that seeks the destruction of the state of Israel.”
Others, including 24 attorneys general, warned that conceding to the demands of a group which endorses mass casualty events inspired by Islamist extremism would have “immediate and profound legal consequences” — potentially divestment from Brown mandated by “laws in nearly three-fourths of states prohibiting states and their instrumentalities from contracting with, investing in, or otherwise doing business with entities that discriminate against Israel, Israelis, or those who do business with either.”
Meanwhile, an investment network, JLens, published a study which found that adopting divestment — a core tenet of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement — may compromise Brown’s financial health. According to the study which measured the havoc BDS would wreak on university investment portfolios, divestment from Israel would incinerate over $300 million in returns for the Brown’s endowment in the just the next decade.
News of Corporation’s decision was greeted with invective and abusive language, as the pro-Hamas group which proposed divestment took to social media to lodge expletives and other offensive insults at Christina Paxson, who withstood sharp criticism for agreeing to negotiate with its members.
“F— you CPax. F—You Brown Corp,” the Brown Divest Coalition said in a statement on Wednesday. “Free Palestine.”
American universities are largely rejecting demands to divest from Israel and entities linked to the Jewish state, delivering further blows to the pro-Hamas protest movement, which students and faculty pushed with dozens of illegal demonstrations to coerce officials into enacting the policy.
In August, Oberlin College’s Board of Trustees voted against BDS after reviewing a proposal submitted by “Students for a Free Palestine,” a spin-off of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which has been linked to Islamist terrorist organizations. The following month, University of Minnesota and Chapman University also rejected BDS, citing similar reasons, including “fiduciary duty” and the importance of insulating investment decisions from the caprices of political opinion.
Oberlin explained that divestment would undermine its mission to create a space in which students “express contested views,” adding that adopting the divestment proposal “would be taking a clear institutional stand on one side of a fraught and contested issue that divides the Oberlin community.” It continued, “The board believes that doing so could constrain critical thinking, discourse, and debate on the subject, which would jeopardize the college’s mission.”
Christina Paxson and Brian Moynihan expressed similar views in Wednesday’s statement.
“Brown’s Public Statements Policy is already clear that the university does not make institutional statements on social, political, or policy matters unrelated to the university’s operations in advancing education, scholarship and discovery,” they said. “Brown’s standards for divestment should be reviewed to ensure that they are aligned with this policy…for now, it is clear that the endowment should not and will not be used to take a stance on the contested geopolitical issues in the Middle East.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Iran Says Sinwar Killing Will Ignite New Wave of ‘Resistance’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on before a meeting with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 26, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s top diplomat on Friday took to social media to mourn the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli soldiers.
“Martyrs live forever, and the cause for liberation of Palestine from occupation is more alive than ever,” wrote Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, adding that the jihadist kingpin’s death will only serve to further his cause.
Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 massacres, was killed by Israeli troops in the southern Gazan city of Rafah on Wednesday.
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With Jihadist Mass Murderer Dead, Israel Takes Another Stride Forward
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar looks on as Palestinian Hamas supporters take part in an anti-Israel rally over tension in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, in Gaza City, Oct. 1, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
JNS.org – The elimination of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s top military-terrorist and political chief and the architect of the Oct. 7 invasion—the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust—marks a major turning point in the battle to degrade the Iranian-backed jihadist network surrounding Israel.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari explained on Thursday that Sinwar had been attempting to flee from house to house, moving between structures in Rafah. Hagari noted that Sinwar “was in flight,” and at one point, after the entourage protecting him had been fired upon by the IDF and split up, Sinwar fled alone into a building.
Sinwar’s death, achieved by fighters from the 450th battalion of the IDF School for Infantry Corps Professions and Squad Commanders (known by its Hebrew acronym, the Bislamach Brigade) occurred in Rafah on Oct. 16.
Two tank shells directed by the force at the building where he was hiding led to Sinwar to first being injured, and then killed by the second shell. In between the two shell strikes, a squad commander with soldiers who attempted to search the building encountered grenades, retreated, and sent quadcopters inside to gather intelligence. One of the quadcopters filmed Sinwar sitting in a room, injured, hurling a plank at the drone (and missing it). The tank shell that eliminated Sinwar soon followed.
Sinwar’s attempt to flee, Hagari said, was driven by the pressure exerted by Israeli forces, who had been closing in on him in Rafah over a prolonged period. Hagari also mentioned that Sinwar had been using tunnels and the cover of civilians to avoid detection. His DNA had been found in a tunnel located a few hundred meters from the site of where Hamas murdered six Israeli hostages in late August.
The elimination significantly weakens Hamas’s operational capabilities and disrupts its leadership structure. Sinwar’s removal is not only a tactical victory but also a strategic achievement that vindicates Israel’s refusal to agree to premature withdrawals that would have allowed Hamas to regroup and rearm. This achievement moves Israel significantly closer to neutralizing the Iranian-jihadist vision of a “ring of fire” around its borders.
Since his release in the 2011 Shalit deal, Yahya Sinwar was the primary architect behind Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure and strategy in Gaza. He was the mastermind behind the genocidal attack on southern Israel a year ago, and his elimination sends the messages to terrorists and their backers throughout the Middle East that Israel will settle accounts with all who target its people.
According to Hagari, Sinwar’s was located after months of intelligence efforts by the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
“We closed in on him over a period of months, and despite not knowing his precise location at times, we continued our determined pursuit,” the admiral said.
In recent months, Hamas has ceased functioning as a centralized terror army, devolving instead into a decentralized network of guerilla terrorist cells. While the elimination of Sinwar will not entirely dismantle Hamas, it accelerates its transformation into a less coordinated and more fragmented organization, removing its ability to plan and conduct large-scale terror operations out of Gaza.
These developments send a clear message to the entire region: Israel will not tolerate a return to the status quo where Hamas is left intact to rebuild its terrorist army.
Unprecedented leverage
The death of Sinwar also provides Israel with unprecedented leverage in negotiations concerning the remaining 101 Hamas-held hostages. He was known for his hardline stance and unwillingness to compromise on his demands; his absence opens the door to possible approaches by surviving Hamas members holding the hostages.
Israel now has the opportunity to offer immunity or other deals to lower-ranking Hamas terrorists in exchange for the safe release of hostages. With their morale degraded and Israel’s determination to prevent them from retaking Gaza clearer than ever, the remaining Hamas leaders may be more willing to negotiate, offering Israel a new path to secure the return of its citizens.
While Sinwar’s elimination is a significant victory, it does not signal the end of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The goal to prevent Hamas from regrouping and reconstituting its terrorist capabilities remains.
Col. (res.) Amit Assa, a former senior member of the Shin Bet intelligence service, stated in a call organized by Media Central that eliminating terrorist leaders is crucial, especially during wartime, when it is more difficult for an organization to replace its leadership efficiently.
Assa highlighted that Sinwar had expected Iran and Hezbollah to join Hamas in the initial Oct. 7, 2023, attack but that the timing wasn’t right for the Iranian axis to join an all-out attack. This despite the fact that Hezbollah had prepared its own mass murder ground assault from Southern Lebanon, whose infrastructure is now being destroyed by the IDF.
Sinwar’s elimination will help “people in Gaza, also terrorists, know that this is the end of the Hamas. And if it’s the end of the Hamas, they have no advantage keeping the hostages,” said Assa. “I think what will happen now is as the time will go by, we will see hostages getting free and we hope every one of them.”
Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Conricus, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former IDF international spokesperson, highlighted the implications of Sinwar’s death, stating, “When I scan the horizon of Hamas leadership and I look at who is next in line …, they are way down, many levels down the food chain from where Yahya Sinwar was.”
He named Sinwar’s brother Muhammad as a lead candidate to replace him.
For the broader Middle East, Sinwar’s death could serve as a catalyst for change. Without Hamas’s iron grip on Gaza, there is potential for Palestinian factions and civilians to explore new possibilities for governance and cooperation.
“I think that this poses a lot of opportunities for Israel, but most importantly for Palestinians, for those who want to seize opportunity and get free of Hamas rule and oppression of Gaza and perhaps turn the page on a better future for Gaza,” said Conricus.
Ultimately, the elimination of Sinwar is more than the death of a terrorist mastermind. It is a significant milestone in Israel’s broader fight against Iranian-backed jihadist movements that seek to destroy the Jewish state and take over the Middle East.
Israel has not only weakened its enemies; it is creating new possibilities for the wider region.
The post With Jihadist Mass Murderer Dead, Israel Takes Another Stride Forward first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran: Sinwar’s Death Bolsters ‘Spirit of Resistance’ in Muslim World
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 2, 2022. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
JNS.org – The killing of Hamas terror chief Yahya Sinwar will strengthen the “spirit of resistance” in the Islamic world, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on Thursday.
“When Muslims look up to martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield—in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy—the spirit of resistance will be strengthened. He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine,” the mission tweeted.
“As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration,” it added.
Sinwar’s predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Tehran in July.
Last week, The New York Times reported that Hamas pleaded with Iran to join its Oct. 7, 2023, attack months in advance, citing documents seized by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza back in January.
According to the report, the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, Khalil al-Hayya, informed Mohammed Said Izadi, head of the Palestinian Office of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, of the plot in July 2023, in Lebanon.
Although the Iranians denied any involvement in the Oct. 7 invasion, Hamas leadership meetings, obtained in transcribed form and verified by the Times, reveal that al-Hayya asked Izadi to strike sensitive sites in Israel in “the first hour” of the attack.
The documents further reveal that Hamas also intended to convene with Hezbollah’s then-leader Hassan Nasrallah, but that the meeting was postponed. It was not clear whether a later meeting was held in person.
According to the recordings, Izadi said that Iran and Hezbollah sanctioned the attack in principle, but that more time was needed “to prepare the environment.”
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