24 GOP state attorneys general warn Brown University about divesting from Israel ahead of pivotal vote
24 state attorney generals urged Brown University to reject a proposal to divest from companies linked to Israel, citing potential legal repercussions due to anti-BDS laws in most states.
The letter criticizes the divestment proposal as anti-Semitic and links the student group supporting it to foreign terrorist organizations.
On Monday, 24 Republican state attorney generals sent a letter to the Corporation of Brown University, urging the university administration to turn down a proposal to divest from companies that have ties to Israel.
The Brown Daily Herald reported that, earlier this year, Brown decided to vote on a resolution to potentially divest from Israel in October. The university made this concession in return for the student protesters taking down their encampment which they had set up on Brown’s campus in Providence, Rhode Island.
In their letter, the attorneys general contended that, were Brown to pass the divestment resolution, it could have significant negative legal effects for the university, because most states have enacted anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) laws that prohibit them from doing business with institutions that have decided to boycott the state of Israel.
“If adopted, the Brown Divest Now proposal will have immediate and profound legal consequences for Brown, its employees, and its student body because it may trigger the application of laws in nearly three-fourths of States prohibiting States and their instrumentalities from contracting with, investing in, or otherwise doing business with entities that discriminate against Israel, Israelis, or those who do business with either,” the attorneys general wrote.
“We therefore urge you to reject this antisemitic and unlawful proposal,” the open letter continues.
The states wrote to urge the Brown Corporation to “reject the ‘Brown Divest Now’” proposal at the corporation’s upcoming meeting in October, writing that the “proposal is only the latest part of an antisemitic pressure campaign spearheaded by a group calling itself ‘Students for Justice in Palestine.’”
The group of attorneys general denounced Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), writing that it is “linked to entities that the U.S. Department of State designates as ‘foreign terrorist organizations.’”
Campus Reform reported in July about a U.S. House of Representatives hearing during which expert witnesses testified about the potential illicit flow of money from foreign operatives into pro-Palestine groups, including student groups.
One witness who testified at the hearing, Lara Burns, the Head of Terrorism Research at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, said that terrorist organizations often use “tax-exempt organizations” as means of illicitly financing their activities.
The letter to Brown was co-signed by the attorneys general of Arkansas, Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Rhode Island’s attorney general, Peter Neronha, did not sign the letter.
A spokesperson for Brown, Brian Clark, told The Brown Daily Herald that the university has no plans to release a statement on the issue and are waiting for “formal receipt of the letter.”
Campus Reform has contacted Brown University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
