Pennsylvania legislators aim to ban colleges and universities from divesting from Israel
'We must act to prevent our commonwealth, including our colleges and universities, from taking the wholly unwarranted action of divesting from Israel.'
Legislators in Pennsylvania are proposing a ban on using state funds to support the divestment effort against Israel.
The Center Square reported that Pennsylvania Sens. Sens. Steve Santarsiero (D-Doylestown) and Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-Jacobus) will introduce legislation that would “uphold Pennsylvania’s steadfast support for Israel” and ban state treasury and pension funds from being used to divest from Israel and companies that operate inside the country.
Santarsiero said Israel is “the only true democracy in a volatile region of the world.”
“To that end, we must act to prevent our commonwealth, including our colleges and universities, from taking the wholly unwarranted action of divesting from Israel,” Santarsiero and Phillips-Hill said in a statement.
At the University of Pennsylvania, for example, anti-Israel encampment protesters demanded that the institution divest from “corporations that profit from Israel’s war on Gaza and occupation in Palestine,” according to the Daily Pennsylvanian.
Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity also said she supports the bill, stating that “there’s no question” the state funds should be barred from being used to divest.
“I also agree with the senators that no university or college which divests from Israel should receive state funding,” Garrity told the Center Square. “I urge the General Assembly to get this bill done quickly.”
