The University of California-Santa Barbara student government voted 13-12 against an Israel divestment resolution, with the senate president breaking the tie, The Daily Nexus reported early Thursday morning.
It was contentious night, the Nexus reported before the vote:
Dozens of students signed up to speak during public forum, giving passionate arguments both in support and in opposition of the resolution. UCSB and UC Merced remain the only UC undergraduate campuses whose student governments have not yet passed divestment resolutions, with UC Irvine being the first campus to pass divestment in November 2012.
Pro-Israel group StandWithUs said the debate lasted eight hours, carrying over from Wednesday night into early Thursday. It faulted Students for Justice in Palestine for its “vicious demonization of Israel” during the debate:
Slanderous claims of “genocide” and “sterilization” were left unchecked by the student senate. It is deeply disturbing that just two weeks after they passed a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, including the demonization of Israel, that the senate allowed blatant demonization to be expressed without saying a word of objection. This negligence underlines how important it is for university leaders to clearly and actively define the line between legitimate criticism and hate speech when it comes to Israel. It is clear that it will take more than just resolutions to properly address the issue of bigotry against Jews and Israelis at UCSB and elsewhere.
Read the story and the StandWithUs statement.
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