UC Berkeley Divestment Vote

Dear [Decision Maker],

I write to you as a resident of the great state of California and as an American Christian who strongly supports the state of Israel. I see Israel as a nation that shares our values of democracy and human rights.

I understand that you have passed a bill condemning Israel for supposed human rights abuses and have encouraged the University of California, Berkeley to divest from companies that do business with Israel. I believe that you may have acted in good faith based upon misleading and biased reports from the United Nations and non-governmental organizations. You should know that there is another side to the story.

Israeli defensive actions, including the construction of the security barrier, are meant to thwart terror attacks. The fact is that there is no excuse for acts of terrorism against Israel and that Israel has the same right as every other nation to take measures to defend her citizens from such violent attacks.

Israel has demonstrated repeatedly its desire for peace and has made a series of painful sacrifices in the interest of peace. During the Camp David negotiations of 1999 and again as recently as one year ago, Israel offered the Palestinian Authority a Palestinian state in almost all of the West Bank and Gaza. These offers--which would have ended the conflict as well as the "occupation" -- were rejected without even so much as a counter offer.

In 2005, Israel withdrew all of its troops and citizens from Gaza in yet another sacrifice for peace. Following the Gaza withdrawal, the militant group Hamas kidnapped the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and launched hundreds of rockets towards Israeli civilian centers. Kidnapping and the firing of rockets indiscriminately at civilian populations are severe war crimes by any definition.

The ASUC Senate's mention of Israel's alleged crimes without mentioning the blatant and obvious Palestinian war crimes demonstrates a willful one-sided divestment effort aimed at delegitimizing the world's only Jewish state, harming America's faithful ally, and weakening the only stable democracy in the Middle East.

By ignoring the legitimate reasons for Israel's actions, and the need for all nations to protect their civilians from rockets and bomb attacks, you DO choose sides in the conflict, though the bill's text claims to do the opposite.

Berkeley is a leading academic institution which prides itself on its openness to discussion and disagreement. But by passing an unprecedented divestment bill against Israel, you do not further the cause of peace or legitimate discourse on an important geopolitical topic. Instead, by legitimatizing a one-sided and politically driven viewpoint, you merely embolden those who wish to destroy Israel and deny the right of Israel's very existence. When this divestment bill comes under your consideration again, I respectfully ask that you vote for its defeat.