Endorsements

“The Palestinian BDS National Committee, BNC, salutes Hampshire College for its historic decision to divest from companies implicated in Israel’s occupation and violation of international law. Your principled and courageous decision is the clearest indicator yet in the United States that a critical threshold has been crossed in undertaking effective, morally sound solidarity measures to further the cause of justice and peace in Palestine and the region.”

            --Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC)

 

"This is a monumental and historic step in the struggle for Palestinian equality, self-determination and peace in the Holy Land by non-violent means. I see what these students have accomplished as a replica of the support of their College of our struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Hampshire College's decision to divest should be a guiding example to all institutions of higher learning."

           --Archbishop Desmond Tutu

 

"Congratulations to the students of Hampshire College for your principled and thoughtful divestment decision. Economic sanctions are among the most potent tools in the arsenal of non-violent tactics. Divestment and boycotts are controversial precisely because they work. So stay strong in the face of the attacks and misinformation, they are a measure of the effectiveness of the tactic you have chosen. And know that there are many who stand with you, and will soon be inspired to join you!"

               --Naomi Klein, Journalist & Author

 

"I would like to express my strong support for the work of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), specifically their call for divestment from US corporations that are directly involved in Israel's criminal activities in the occupied territories. I would also like to commend the important educational and organizational efforts that laid the basis for the call. The SJP statement... is fully defensible in moral and legal terms. The organizers deserve congratulations and support for having once again led Hamphire College to spearhead opposition to major crimes, as it did 30 years ago in its opposition to South African apartheid, opening a path that others could follow. "

              --Noam Chomsky

 

“I wholeheartedly support the call of the students of Hampshire College for an economic boycott of Israel following the massacre perpetrated in Gaza.”

--John Berger

 

“Every tiny act of disagreement with repression and injustice is critical. Gandhi rocked the imperialist British empire by thesimple act of making salt. Hampshire College deserves to be saluted for lending its small shoulder to a big cause."

--Tarun Tejpal, Internationally Acclaimed Author, Editor of the Magazine Tehelka

 

“As in the case of the Apartheid system of South Africa, the Israeli Apartheid system imposed in Palestine leaves no option but to exercise pressure on Israel through BDS programs to break the Apartheid system for the sake of the future of both peoples."

--Mustafa Barghouti, Palestinian Legislative Council

 

“To my knowledge It has never occurred in history before, that the
 Aggressor (Israel) been rewarded and the Victim (Palestinians) demonized 
and punished by the International Community.  Why has this been allowed to 
happen? 

 The actions of the Students of Hampshire College by campaigning for
 divestment from financial ties with Israel is the first USA College to try to bring the truth to light and
 redress this injustice.  I hope your Divestment Campaign will be taken up by other USA (and world) colleges, Universities
 and People, so that our voices United will break the siege of Gaza, end the occupation of Palestine, and 
give hope to Palestinians and Israelis who believe in human
 dignity, equality, and human rights for all.  Well done to you all!”

            --Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate

 

"I entirely endorse the actions of Hampshire College students in their
 campaign for divestment from financial ties with Israel. Israel's current
 violence against Gaza, its long occupation of Palestinian lands and its
 policies of apartheid are all unacceptable by any standards."

--Roger Waters, Musician, Pink Floyd

 

“I want to express my admiration and support for the actions of Hampshire 
College students in their successful campaign for divestment from financial 
ties with Israel.  It is extremely important for Israel to know that its 
violence against Gaza and its long occupation of Palestinian lands is not 
acceptable to people in the United States. I hope your campaign will set an
 example for students all over the country, and lead to justice in the Middle
 East, as the divestment campaign helped end apartheid in South Africa.”

             --Dr. Howard Zinn

 

"I welcome the action of the Trustees of Hampshire College in 
divesting from companies that directly profit from the Israeli 
occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This is a first step
 towards bringing real moral and material pressure to bear against an 
occupation that has gone on for over 41 years, and that must be ended
 if Palestinians and Israelis are to have peace."

 --Rashid Khalidi, Professor, Columbia University

 

“Your student group is to be commended for taking such an
 important and brave action.  I am pleased to sign your statement and I thank
 you for including me.”

--Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney

 

“As a South African freedom fighter and recently retired minister in our
 democratic government I salute your stand against apartheid Israel!”

--Ronnie Kasrils, ANC leader & Minister of South Africa

 

“I fully endorse the reasonable and courageous decision of Hampshire
 College's Board of Trustees to divest all investments that support the 
Israeli occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people.”

--David Theo Goldberg, Professor, University of California

 

“I was thrilled to learn about the courageous step the college has taken. I am confident that history would judge it to be in hindsight one of the definitive moments in the non violent struggle to end the occupation and the oppression in Palestine and Israel."

--Ilan Pappé, Professor, British University of Exeter

 

“You are doing such great work! I have been 
wanting a chance to tell you how proud I am of your
 activism and leadership in this struggle.”

--Leslie Feinberg, Co-founder 
Rainbow Flags for Mumia & co-founder Rainbow Solidarity 
for the Cuban Five

 

“I strongly support this statement.  Israel's settlement policy in the
 Occupied Territories is a war crime.  The wall Israel has been building in
 the Occupied Territories is designed to incorporate these 
illegal settlements.  The final five-point itemization of your statement 
makes unambiguously clear that anyone who opposes such divestment supports 
war crimes.”

--Norman Finklestein

 

“I admire and honor the work Students for Justice in Palestine have done to bring about divestment from corporations profiting from the sufferings of the Palestinian people under Israel's occupation. May Hampshire's leadership inspire a growing movement on campuses and elsewhere.”

--Adrienne Rich, Poet & Activist

 

“I extend my enthusiastic congratulations to Hampshire College and to Students 
for Justice in Palestine for your courageous stand in support of human rights. 
As we have all learned from President Nelson Mandela, no one's freedom is
 complete until all are free. As Hampshire College and all of us learned 
during the long and often difficult years of the South African anti-apartheid 
struggle, international support through non-violent economic pressure such as
 divestment campaigns, plays an enormously important role.  This is true in
 ending the Israeli occupation as much as it was for ending South African 
apartheid. At this moment when our own country is looking with hope towards a 
new era of change, we know that real change, based on justice, is something we 
must not only believe in but also fight for. Your decision to divest from
 Israeli occupation is part of that fight, and I applaud you for it.”
  

-- Phyllis Bennis, Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies

 

“Please find our endorsement of Hampshire College SJP's recent
 divestment efforts.  […] The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a national coalition of 280 groups, applauds Hampshire College for again being among the 
leaders of the movement to divest their holdings in the service of human
 rights.  As was the case with apartheid South Africa, the global Boycott, 
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement seeks to nonviolently pressure 
Israel to end its systemic human rights abuses and violations of 
international law against Palestinians.  Economic isolation and 
international pressure are crucial components to ending the Israeli 
confiscation of Palestinian land, expansion of Israel's illegal settlements,
 and Israel's targeting of Palestinian civilian lives and infrastructure.
 Combined with boycott campaigns, divestment both presses Israel to change 
its policies on human rights, and sends an important message to corporations 
that investors and consumers refuse to be complicit in human rights abuses.
 Hampshire College Students for Justice in Palestine's hard won campaign for 
divestment is truly a beacon for students and faculty seeking to
 nonviolently bring justice to Palestinians and peace and security to all.
 Peace & Power

--
Katherine M. Fuchs, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

 

 "Given the central role that Americans have played in the prevention of 
justice for the Palestinian people, the struggle for peace must be waged 
here as well. The brave decision taken by Hampshire College to divest itself
 from further complicity in the illegal and immoral actions undertaken by
 Israel may be seen in years to come as the first and decisive act in the
 move towards a just and permanent peace in the region. We are all global citizens and Hampshire College has just shown what that responsibility means. I applaud and whole-heartedly support them in their efforts."

--Sut Jhally, University of Massachusetts at Amherst


"Congratulations to the Hampshire College students on their successful  campaign that has led to a historic decision: to divest from all financial ties with Israel. Citizens in the United States and Europe have been extremely slow in appreciating the effects of the continued Israeli onslaught against the Palestinians. The victory of the ultra-Right parties in the recent Israeli elections only proves that the timing of your decision was perfect. Let us hope that it triggers similar campaign and results on campuses throughout the Western world. Israel is an apartheid state and the convict's badge needs to be pinned firmly on the lapels of its leaders. What you have done will strike a chord everywhere and not least in beleaguered Gaza."

            --Tariq Ali

 

“I I join you and Howard Zinn and other colleagues and friends in the United States, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Britain, and many other places in the world who are actively concerned with the exacerbation of tensions in congratulating you for your efforts to bring sanity and justice to the grave situation in Israel and Palestine.”

--Electa Arenal, Professor Emerita, CUNY Graduate Center

“I would like to express my support for the very carefully articulated demands that have emerged from the Hamshire campaign for disinvestment. As the parent of a sometime student at the college I am particularly pleased that the commitment to indivisible conceptions of justice and human rights for which the institution was once widely known are being maintained in this way.”

--Paul Gilroy, London School of Economics and Political Science

 

“Congratulations on succeeding in your divestment campaign. It's an enormously important model for universities and corporations around the world.”

--Wendy Brown, University of California, Berkeley

 

“The message from Hampshire College is clear, principled and deserves the support of all people who want peace with justice in the Middle East. Israel and its supporters, especially in the US, remain apparently blind to the horrible injustice it inflicts on the people of Palestine. The parallel to apartheid South Africa is not overdrawn and it is time that more people and institutions awoke to it."

--Dan Smith, Author & former Director of the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo

 

“I am writing to applaud the courageous stand Hampshire College has taken at the behest of the Hampshire Students for Justice in Palestine. It was an action taken in the best tradition of Hampshire College, which as I remember was established as a 'college with a conscience.' The Hampshire Students for Justice in Palestine prove that Hampshire has lived up to that aspiration."

--Dr. Roberta Koffman, Hampshire Alumnus

 

 

Additional Support From:

Luisa Morgantini, Vice President, EU parliament

Adam Keller

Beate Zilversmidt

Rosa Clemente, Hip Hop Activist & Journalist

Joan Cocks, Mt. Holyoke College

Hava Kelleradam, Members of Gush Shalom ("Peace Bloc")

Anat Biletski, Tel Aviv University

Anat Matar, Tel Aviv University

Dr. Islah Jad

Susan Stryker, Scholar & Filmmaker

Raewynn Connell, University of Sydney

 

Letter of Support from Israeli citizens:

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We the undersigned, citizens of Israel committed to ending the occupation of Palestine and to building a just peace, wish to congratulate Hampshire Students for Justice for Palestine and the Board of Trustees of Hampshire College for the Board's brave decision to divest its endowment from corporations that directly profit from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. We believe that steps such as these by international civil society are essential to bringing about an end to the conflict in a non-violent fashion, and call on other institutions to follow Hampshire's example.

Yoav Beirach Barak, Tel Aviv
Ilil Bartana, Tel Aviv
Danielle Shworts, Tel Aviv
Prof. Anat Biletzki, Jaffa
Ella Yedaya, Tel Aviv
Oshra Bar, Binyamina
Dafna and Reuven Kaminer, Jerusalem
Dr. Anat Matar, Ramat Hasharon
Shir Givoni, Tel Aviv
Matan Boord, Tel Aviv
Dafna Englander, Tel Aviv
Aviad Albert, Tel Aviv
Prof. Gerardo Leibner, Tel Aviv
Eldad Zion, Tel Aviv
Natalia Leiber, Azur
Eli Levy Karin, Tel Aviv
Eilat Maoz, Jaffa
Inna Michaeli, Jaffa
Ruti Lavi, Givataim
Eran Razgour, Tel Aviv
Marcelo Weksler, Tel Aviv
Matan Kaminer, Jaffa
Noa Kaufman, Tel Aviv
Galit Hess
Nitza Aminov
Oded Yedaya, Tel Aviv, Manager – Minshar School of Art
Ofer Neiman, Jerusalem
Carmel Kaminer, Tel Aviv
Shimri Zameret, Jaffa
Michali Bar-Or, Tel Aviv
Tali Kaminer,  Ramat Hasharon
Shir Hever, Jerusalem
Efrat Even-Tzur, Jerusalem
Aisheh Sedawi, Arara
Mati Shemoelof, editor and poet
Reuven Abergel, Jerusalem
Yfat Doron, Tel Aviv
Adam Maor, Geneva
Amit Ron , Kiryat Bialik
Judy Blanc, Jerusalem
Anat Guthmann, Ramat Gan
Shai Carmeli Pollak, Tel Aviv
Ayala Shani, Tel Aviv
Liad Kantorowicz, Jaffa
Vardit Goldner, Hod Hasharon
Ronnie Barkan, Tel Aviv
Yotam Ben-David, Tel Aviv
Yossi Bartal, Berlin
Roy Wagner, Tel Aviv
Ohal Grietzer, Tel Aviv
Susanne Moses, Tel Aviv