We are a group of Jewish students at Oberlin College and Conservatory who would like to express our support for the passage of Students for a Free Palestine’s divestment resolution by Student Senate. We stand behind this divestment campaign, which allows Oberlin students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members to directly participate in the global struggle for justice for Palestinians. Divesting from companies that profit from the brutal occupation and oppression of Palestinians is a powerful nonviolent mechanism by which we, as members of the international community, can raise the cost of Israeli human rights violations.

As American Jews, we are directly implicated in Israel’s apartheid policies and practices. We are told that violence is waged in our name, and we are told that American military aid is spent in our name. Therefore it is our responsibility to use our voices to exert pressure that brings about change. We see divestment as a tactic that allows us to hold those who profit from injustice accountable.

We recognize that for some Jews here at Oberlin, it may be uncomfortable to see and hear Israel criticized so much on campus. It might be uncomfortable or even painful to see a divestment resolution pass in Student Senate that draws attention to Israeli violations of Palestinian rights. Confronting inequality, especially when one’s own ethno-religious group is the privileged one, is uncomfortable. But when faced with the choice between allowing our discomfort to breed complicity or working for justice, equality and self-determination for all people, we find that it is our responsibility to commit to justice. We reject the colonization, dispossession, displacement and oppression that is called our birthright, and we strive to be in solidarity with Palestinians and Israelis engaged in resistance.

–Melanie Malinas
College sophomore

–Sofie Ghitman
College junior

–Simone Baron
Conservatory senior

and other students