Last night, Columbia College Student Council voted to send a BDS referendum to the students. After a very emotionally-stirred, difficult, long vote, the motion passed by exactly one vote.
After it was announced, members of SJP and JVP screamed, boasted in excitement, at the top of their lungs. They left the room, filling Lerner with echoes of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
For many observers, this chant might seem like an ordinary victory chant but, in fact, this is the core of the conflict. These groups are not asking to foster peace, but to erase the only Jewish state, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. This is a call for genocide.
The fact that people do not realize this, and that a group can leave student government feeling a call for genocide is a legitimate chant, is exactly why we oppose this referendum.
We stayed quiet, upset, but not defeated. SSI, along with other pro-Israel groups on our campus will inform students on the antisemitic repercussions of this referendum, its negation to real dialogue, and will not let this pass the next stage.
We urge students to see that this will only divide our campus, will only being hatred to our campus, will only harm our Jewish and pro-Israel students and, most importantly, that it is completely unjust.
