That American universities have "foreign policies" is pretty damn obvious given how different the treatment of Russia's war and occupation of parts of Ukraine is from the treatment of Israel's war and occupation of Palestine.
The conflicts are not alike. In Gaza, there is no “good guys”. Everyone has civilian blood on their hands. Everyone is angry. And there are no easy answers that have any hope of achieving peace. Of course the foreign policy positions of our governments are different in each case.
I’m not sure why you expect your comment to be convincing. The facts on the ground are obviously different. I sincerely believe those differences matter. Reducing my argument to a straw man only leaves me suspecting you don’t understand my point.
In any case, if you take this as axiomatic:
> We should divest any occupier state
Do you also believe that non-indigenous people are “occupying” the USA, Canada, Australia, India, South Africa and so on? Should we all somehow return “home”? If you see Russia and Israel as the same situation, is it not also the same situation in many other countries? Where do you suggest we draw the line?
And where, exactly, do you propose the Israelis should go this time?
Israel does have a right to defend itself. It also has an obligation to be humane, and if it wants to continue existing without internal conflict with its neighbours, perhaps this is not quite the best way to do it.
"“Colleagues who have managed to make it to the north in recent days describe scenes of utter horror: Corpses left lying in the road. People with evident signs of starvation stopping trucks in search of anything they can get to survive,” Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, told members of the UN Security Council on Friday. " - https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/12/middleeast/gaza-corpses-o...
Does any of that matter to you?
Edit: @josephg
"The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Saturday that 135 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall toll of the war to 23,843. The count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians, but the ministry has said about two-thirds of the dead are women and children." - https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-aud-nw-israel...
"For years, the Qatari government had been sending millions of dollars a month into the Gaza Strip — money that helped prop up the Hamas government there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel not only tolerated those payments, he had encouraged them... Allowing the payments — billions of dollars over roughly a decade — was a gamble by Mr. Netanyahu that a steady flow of money would maintain peace in Gaza, the eventual launching point of the Oct. 7 attacks, and keep Hamas focused on governing, not fighting." - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/world/middleeast/israel-q...
(edit 2: snotty comments removed)
This is a weird claim. How are the bombs selectively targeting women? Are the bombs sexist?
> And possibly this came about because the Israeli government allowed money to Hamas to split the Palestinian governance?
“Allowed money”? Gaza has been self governing for years. Do you want Israel to intervene in politics in Palestine or not? You can’t have it both ways - either they pull out and let Gaza self govern, or they meddle in political affairs and make sure money is spent in a way they like. What would you have them do?
I agree with your main points - the loss of civilian life seems like an avoidable tragedy. (As were the Israeli civilian deaths a few months ago). But the strange points you make at the start of your comment weaken the overall message.
Russia can just pull out of Ukraine and everyone will chill out. But Israel can’t ignore Hamas after the terrorist act in October. And if they pull out of their illegal settlements in response to a terrorist act, it will embolden the next strike against their civilians.
As far as I can tell, it’s an impossible situation for everyone. If you truly think there are simple answers in Gaza, how would you de-escalate the conflict at this point?
Much to my point about the Israel and Russia attacks being very comparable, Russia can of course point to such terrorist groups in Ukraine, even ones like Azov being given official status in the armed forces.
>But Israel can’t ignore Hamas after the terrorist act in October.
Speculation on both our parts, but I think a real Palestinian state in the pre-67 borders and right of return for refugees would effectively end large-scale terrorist attacks, much the same as Russia would be safe if they withdrew from Ukraine.
Unfortunately it would also tell Palestine that terrorism works. And next time they want Israel to take their needs seriously, murdering, kidnapping and raping some Israeli civilians is the right way to go about it.
From a long term strategic point of view, Israel can’t give ground as a result of the terrorist attacks or they encourage more such attacks to happen in the future.
As far as I know, the University of California never issued an official statement on the war in Ukraine. On our campus, the campus leadership issued their own condemnation about a week after the invasion started. I remember thinking that there must be something going on behind the scenes, as the university usually reacts faster.
On the other hand, the university officially condemned the Hamas terrorist attack on October 9, which was the first business day after the attack.
* US professors suspended, probed over Gaza war comments: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-professors-suspended-pro... * Steven Salaita: U. of I. destroyed my career: https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-steven-... * UM disciplines prof over Israel letter controversy: https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/10...
In the Salaita affair donors made it clear that donations would stop if they hired him. And the university complied. It would have been a nothingburger if his tweets were about Russia. Similarly, many US universities have divested from Russia, but all have consistently refused calls to divest from Israel.