Dear Students at U of Windsor,
On the same day Windsor’s students voted to boycott Israel, Oxford’s students voted against boycotting Israel.
I would hope that Windsor’s students would look into why their fellow students saw things differently. To assist Windsor’s students to understand, Oxford’s students were provided with statement by the BDS founder Omar Barghouti that exposed his real agenda which is the destruction of Israel.
Oxford’s students realized that while they had to be sensitive to the plight of the Palestinians, they could not in good conscience vote to destroy the Jewish state.
Prior to the Oxford vote, the students at UCLA voted down a proposal to boycott Israel after the true facts of the BDS campaign were laid out for them.
It’s possible that the information documenting the lies that are told by BDS organizers were not made available to you so you could not make a reasoned judgment. I would suggest that you have been duped. But don’t believe me, do your own research.
I hope you realize that votes often have unintended consequences. Here’s one for you to consider. Your vote to boycott Israel includes the boycotting of Israeli professors many of whom are very vigorous in their support of Palestinian rights. The fact that a sizeable cadre of Israeli academics opposes their own government’s policies is proof that Israel is a vigorous democracy.
Your boycotting of these dissenters which could in time bring limitations to their freedom does not exactly reward them for their work on behalf of the Palestinians. In disgust, many will stop their outreach activities which will hurt the Palestinians, not help them.
-Larry Shapiro
*The Lance welcomes all Letters to the Editor to represent both the yes and no sides of the BDS Referendum.