The anti-Israel, pro-divestment crowd is nothing if not persistent.
Universities? Cow them into divesting from Israel. Never mind that the pursuit of truth the task of universities would be sabotaged by divestment of university investments from Israel. Stick with it try to shame or coerce universities into shedding the cannons of objectivity and harming the bastion of democracy in the Middle East.
Occupy Wall Street? Try to co-opt it. Never mind that this ragtag effort to right imbalances in society is focused entirely on domestic issues. Stick with it if the attempt to drag the Palestinian cause into it fails in one city, try it in another city. Keep coming back.
In this atmosphere, it is heartening to learn that the University of Colorado reaffirmed its divestment mission in the face of an attempt to persuade it to divest from Israel. Not only did the CU board of regents reject this, it rejected it overwhelmingly. We are grateful.
This is one more proof that the atmospherics surrounding the anti-Israel, pro-divestment crowd are a lot more dramatic than its actual influence and impact.
It is also proof that the long-term defense of Israel in Colorado works. The pro-Israel effort has been sustained over the decades by countless Colorado Jewish agencies, Jewish academics, Jewish activists, Jewish politicians and by this newspaper, not to mention the many friends of Israel in the gentile community cultivated for decades.
All this never-take-it-for-granted pro-Israel work, sometimes institutional and sometimes personal, some- times public and sometimes private, bears fruit. The efforts of the Mountain States ADL in this instance are particularly appreciated.
As usual, we cannot and may not rest on our laurels.
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
