Cal-Davis student court strikes down anti-Israel Divestment resolution

A victory that anti-Israel students at the University of California celebrated last month with shouts of “Allahu Akbar” was short-lived, after a student-run court on Thursday struck down their decision to boycott the Jewish State.

The school's student court ruled that the student senate's decision on Jan. 30 to boycott Israel, a controversial decision that left Jewish students shaken as members of the pro-Hamas group Students for Justice in Palestine shouted Muslim slogans and one even tweeted gleefully that "sharia law" had come to the university system, had nothing to do with student welfare and was thus an invalid resolution.

"We have found [the resolution passed by Senate of the Associated Students, University of California, Davis] to be PRIMARILY a political document [that] does not deal with student welfare to the extent that allows the ASUCD Senate jurisdiction to pass it," the student court said in a ruling of 5-0, with one abstention.

Citing the student body bylaws, the court held further stated, "After much deliberation, this Bench concluded that Politicalized resolutions passed through Senate must be primarily concerning student welfare."

The original vote and ensuing celebration was reported by the Washington Free Beacon, which obtained video of the event. The student group, which sought to force the school to divest from Israel as part of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, was countered by pro-Israel students in a raucous confrontation.

“Allahu Akhbar!” a large group of activists shouted in unison as the pro-Israel students filed out of U.C. Davis’ meeting room, according to video provided by a member of Aggies for Israel, a pro-Israel student group at Davis. Azka Fayyaz, a member of the U.C. Davis student senate, posted on her Facebook page a triumphant message following the vote: “Hamas & Sharia law have taken over UC Davis.” She later penned an open letter for the school paper, The California Aggie, claiming she was engaging in satire.

Following the vote, which was championed by the pro-Hamas group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), unknown vandals spray-painted swastikas on a fraternity house belonging to the Jewish AEPi organization.

The student court did rule that the "Senate is free to pass Resolutions concerning “Divestment” and topics related to [the stricken one] so long as the focus and primary purpose is of Student Welfare and not a political one."