January 25, 2015

Jewish Voice for Peace Central Ohio Endorses #OSUDivest Campaign for Justice in Palestine
Jewish Voice for Peace Central Ohio, a local chapter of the national Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP),
supports the Ohio State University students in their #OSUDivest Initiative Campaign. We agree with
them that investment in corporations that manufacture weapons and provide surveillance technology to
Israeli government makes the university complicit in the violation of the human rights of Palestinians,
African migrants and other minorities.
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is a national organization dedicated to full equality between Israelis and
Palestinians. The JVP position document on boycott, divestment and sanctions states: We support
divestment from and boycotts of companies that profit from Israels occupation of the West Bank, Gaza,
and East Jerusalem. This includes companies operating in or from occupied Palestinian territory,
exploiting Palestinian labor and scarce environmental resources, providing materials or labor for
settlements, or producing military or other equipment or materials used to violate human rights or to
profit from the Occupation.1
The Palestine solidarity movement encompasses a variety of tactics and targets. JVP rejects the assertion
that the call for divestment is inherently anti-Semitic and encourages discussion both within our own
community and outside of it of the growing movement. JVP defends activists' right to use the full range
of tactics without being persecuted or demonized.
JVP has vigorously defended the right of others to engage in full divestment campaigns. JVP has stood
behind student-led efforts to divest from the Israeli occupation at Hampshire College, UC Berkeley, UC
San Diego, and Evergreen College and has support the efforts of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the
Methodist Church and others to divest from companies that profit from the occupation. JVP has an
ongoing petition campaign that asks TIAA-CREF, one of the largest financial services in the United
States and one of the largest retirement systems in the world, to stop investing in companies that profit
from the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The members of Jewish Voice for Peace Central Ohio support #OSUDivest as a nonviolent, effective
campaign to 1) educate students and the public about the horrors of the illegal occupation of the West
Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and the abuse of human rights
in the occupied territories and to 2) encourage the government of Israel to comply with international law
and international human rights standards.
1

Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions: A Jewish Perspective. https://org.salsalabs.com/o/301/images/BDSFAQJewishPerspective.pdf accessed

1/20/15