Editor’s note: This piece is in response to a recent op-ed titled “No More Silent Boycotts,” and concerns the overarching debate over student proposals for a boycott of products from Israel.

“Israel’s record of racism and violence is heinous.””Israel’s brutal occupation and illegal practices.” “Violent and racist acts committed by Israel.”

These statements, made by Leila Abdul Razzaq in her DePaulia op-ed on April 6, have left me feeling despondent. As a proponent of a peaceful resolution between the Palestinians and Israelis, I am alarmed by Abdul Razzaq’s remarks, as well as those positions expressed by her organization, which are antithetical and, frankly, damaging to any sort of peace effort.

I predict that DePaul students, those that share Vincentian values of peace and the common good, also feel under attack by DePaul Divests (the name of the proposed boycott campaign against Israel). Abdul Razzaq has elected to lead an economic war against Israel and has asked DePaul University to sharpen her blade.

I see this juncture as an opportunity to send a message to Abdul Razzaq that DePaul University does not support hate-filled campaigns and will not facilitate its anti-peace narrative.

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DEPAUL DIVESTS IS AGAINST A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION

DePaul Divests’ campaign is particularly untimely. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has recently tried to facilitate negotiations between the two sides. The negotiations thus far have seen Israel release 78 Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons, most of whom were instrumental in terror attacks against Israeli civilians. The agenda outlined by DePaul Divests would harden extremists and embolden Palestinian leadership to dismiss even these most painful concessions made by Israel.

DePaul University should encourage a peaceful compromise, not take instrumental steps to sabotage any budding cooperation. The question to ask is why DePaul Divests is against a peaceful compromise between the two parties? More importantly, why should DePaul University listen to an organization that is counter-productive to peace efforts? To resolve this question, one should look no further than the DePaul Divests website, which has enumerated a number of its positions.

One point in particular proved especially revealing. DePaul Divests calls for “the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties, as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.” 

Assuming DePaul Divests is educated as to the full breadth of this demand, it knows full well that this would require Israel to relinquish its territory to several million Palestinian descendants and essentially cease to exist. DePaul Divests indicates that it will only retire its war against Israel once this demand has been met.

Accordingly, it is clear why DePaul Divests presents an anti-peace narrative. DePaul Divests boycotts Israel and ncourages the dissolution of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians because it is fundamentally against Israel’s right to exist as a state alongside a future Palestinian state.

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DEPAUL DIVESTS SUBJECTS ISRAEL TO A CURIOUS DOUBLE STANDARD

I do agree with Abdul Razzaq that human rights violations must concern DePaul University. That sentiment, however, is irreconcilable with the demonization of Israel. Why should DePaul University focus its attention on Israel?

We must assume that DePaul Divests is in fact up to speed on current global affairs. Several hundred thousand Syrians have been murdered, 3.7 million South Sudanese are facing imminent death by starvation, Saudi Arabia does not let women travel or conduct business without a male guardian’s permission, Russia continues to export incalculable amounts of sex slaves and Iran’s newly minted President Rouhani has sentenced 500 Iranians to death since the beginning of his term.

This list is certainly not exhaustive. All the while, DePaul Divests has spun the globe and placed its finger on Israel. In Israel, Arab citizens can form and serve in political parties, the judiciary and the Foreign Service. Muslims, Christians and all other religious varieties can practice their faith in peace and with protection. Women are afforded unfettered equal rights, and gay and lesbians are celebrated and protected within the Israeli community.

Arabs and Jews alike can publically voice their displeasure with Israeli policies and, accordingly, vote pursuant to their disapproval. More to the point, organizations like DePaul Divests can, and do, exist in Israel with the freedom to express their positions. These features of Israeli democracy are unfortunately unique to Israel and absent in so many countries. So, why demonize Israel?

Perhaps the most indicative example of DePaul Divests’ backward intentions is the recent news that Israel has opened a field hospital along the Syria-Israel border to treat seriously injured Syrian civilians and combatants. While DePaul Divests shouts to demonize Israel, Israel has and will continue to tend to the unrivaled humanitarian crises that currently scar our world.

I ask DePaul students to merely ask why. Why Israel? If Israel’s humanitarian record is far cleaner than DePaul Divests suggests, then why not focus our energy on the plethora of other humanitarian crises? DePaul ought not be complicit in DePaul Divests’ effort to squeeze Israel under a microscope reserved for one state and one state alone.

This disparate treatment of Israel should not sit well with DePaul students. This conclusion should upset each and every DePaul student. We, as a university, must set our objective toward peace, if not cooperation. Let us send a message to DePaul Divests and similarly-minded extremist groups that DePaul University stands for peace and not division.