Liverpool students vote to boycott Israel

Students at Liverpool University have voted to boycott Israel.

Using a points based voting system, the motion passed by 1,866 points, with 934 opposed.

It will mandate the student union to divest from companies complicit in the “Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem”, in the “siege on Gaza” and “in the discrimination against Palestinians living within the state of Israel.”

It will also allow for students to lobby the university to divest, and stop the Guild of students stocking products from Israel and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Russell Langer, UJS Campaigns Director criticised the decision saying: “It is disappointing that Liverpool Guild of Students have adopted a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) policy despite being defeated three times last year at Guild Summit.

Instead of embracing coexistence, dialogue, and peace, this decision only, as well as silence the voices of Jewish and Israeli students on the conflict.

We are proud to have seen many Jewish students being proactive in the campaign against BDS, standing up proudly for peace while positively engaging a large number of students in conversation on the conflict and promoting a vision of two states for two peoples.

UJS will continue to work closely with Liverpool J-Soc in ensuring Jewish students are not marginalised on campus, and that students continue to be made aware of the case against BDS.”