Palestinians' Blood is on CUNY's Hands
Words by Jason Cohen
The university is portrayed as an institution that functions in a vacuum, in a plane outside of and unaffected by the cataclysmic events that characterize life in the world capitalist system. Students and faculty are expected to focus solely on matters such as classwork, evaluation of degrees and most importantly, timely payments of student debt and tuition.
If one is to break from this mold and begin to question this “apolitical” stance of the University, if one is to investigate how an institution like CUNY is embedded in the machinations of settler colonial and capitalist development, they are either labeled an “ideologue,” or ignored completely by the administration. Such a situation is untenable and in the specific case of the numerous connections that CUNY has in the increasingly ferocious occupation of Palestine, the blood of Palestinians floods the halls of CUNY campuses and the New York State government that funds this university.
In December 2022, Benjamin Netanyahu formed a coalition government composed of a series of political parties that refuse to hide their contempt for the plain existence of Palestinians. Unlike their liberal Zionist predecessors Netanyahu and company do not feel a need to hide the brutal goal of the Israeli settler colonial project, namely the continued expansion of Israel which results in the dispossession, murder and increased securitization of Palestinians.
As of late, there have been many aggressive acts by the Israeli occupation forces, settlers and Israeli governmental officials; it is impossible and unconscionable to ignore. How can CUNY continue to stand by its investments and academic connections with Israel as the number of Palestinians killed by the occupation has risen to 30 in 2023 alone, at the time this article was written?[1]
Integral to these policies of state sponsored murder and terrorism of Palestinians, is the brutal policy of evicting and tearing down the homes of Palestinians in order to make way for the influx of settlers in the West Bank or East Jerusalem. One could go on and on listing the numerous anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-human actions and policies that have been enacted by the Israeli government this year alone. But, the examples mentioned above are enough evidence to prove that the relationship between CUNY and Israel is reprehensible and divestment is necessary.
This call for divestment must be based upon the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions document produced over a decade ago by a group of Palestinians who sought to garner international solidarity for their just struggle for national liberation. Even after the PSC-CUNY union and CUNY Law faculty[2] overwhelmingly supported and passed resolutions in solidarity with Palestine and supporting the principles of BDS, the CUNY administration has disparaged and blatantly continued to entangle our university in this murderous settler colonial process. In the middle of 2022, it was announced that CUNY was partnering with a series of organizations, some Israeli-based, in order to “combat antisemitism” and “make campus safe for Jewish students.”[3]
As a Jewish student on campus such an announcement should be celebrated, but let’s be real regarding this new partnership.
Firstly, this is a complete violation of the call for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel. The reason why such a call was made is that through cultural exports Israel seeks to “sanitize” its image and in the case of academia, Israeli institutions are completely complicit in the advancement of Israeli expansion and the securitization of Palestinian and Arab communities inside and outside Israel.
Secondly, regarding this “partnership” to “stop antisemitism,” I really wonder whether Israel itself should be considered an exemplar of eradicating antisemitism. My question is how a country that consistently has discriminated against Ethiopian[4], Mizrahi and other Jewish groups that are considered “racially other” in Israel, can in fact teach us how to “combat antisemitism.” Antisemitism must be struggled against but partnering with a “Jewish State” which have a long record of abuse against Palestinians and Jews doesn’t seem to be the real solution we desperately need.
In the end, all I hope is that the students and faculty of CUNY can envision another future, one in which justice, equality and the right to national self-determination are respected. One in which our education is a steppingstone to the construction of a world in which ones humanity is respected, and cooperation becomes the foundation of our society.
At this moment nearly every syllabus we receive each semester has a land acknowledgment statement that discusses CUNY’s being built on the land of the Lenni-Lenape people, land that was dispossessed as the US settler-colonial polity formed. Assuming these statements are not just performative, CUNY should, firstly, be making connections with the Lenni-Lenape people, and secondly, should not be investing in, and profiting from, another settler colonial polity that is committing genocide against Indigenous Palestinians.
Oh, and lastly: I ask the CUNY administration to not hide behind the disgraceful anti-BDS legislation passed by the New York State government during Cuomo’s administration. If the administration was truly in support of Palestinian liberation and the declarations passed by students and faculty, then there could have been greater resistance to the NYS government on your part when they threatened to defund CUNY.
Trust me nobody is being fooled.
[1] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/palestinians-bury-dead-as-tensions-escalate-with-israel
[2] https://arabamericannews.com/2022/05/17/cuny-law-faculty-several-law-organizations-endorse-students-bds-resolution-against-israel/
[3] https://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2022/09/23/cuny-partners-with-hillel-international-on-initiative-to-improve-experience-for-jewish-students-on-campuses/
[4] https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/black-soldiers-saga-highlights-racism-in-israel/
