UC Berkeley and Israeli Divestment

story verified--from uc Berkley site---not passed yet---who knows may not happen but a 16-4 vote in favor by student government is scarry enough!!

Page One:
Opposing Groups Get Ready for UC Berkeley Israel Divestment Bill Showdown
By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday April 09, 2010
Pro and anti-Israeli groups are getting ready for the UC Berkeley Israel divestment bill showdown Wednesday.

Student senators are expected to vote April 14 on whether to override their president’s veto on the bill, which encourages the university to stop investing in companies doing business with Israel.

The bill also ensures that no student senate funds are invested in the two companies—General Electric and United Technologies— who provide the Israeli military with weapons.

Although a 16-4 vote of the Associated Students of the University of California cleared the bill March 18, it was struck down by ASUC President Will Smelko a week later.

Smelko said he disagreed with the narrow focus of the bill. “No matter what I do, large groups of people are going to be very mad and upset..” he said.
Emily Carlton, one of the ASUC senators who voted for the bill, said that the senate bylaws allow the president to veto any bill passed by the senate, and the senate can then override it with a two-thirds vote.

“Clearly, the bylaws are flawed,” Carlton said. “However, I am not sure that this was foreseeable, since I don’t think the ASUC has ever faced such a controversial bill—at least not that I have heard about. Essentially, [Smelko] vetoed it on the basis of it being divisive of the student body, and said that the ASUC is not meant to divide people.”

The passage of the bill sparked immediate controversy, with opponents of the bill trying their best to dissuade the ASUC to change its mind through letters and e-mail campaigns.

While the bill is titled “UC Divestment From War Crimes,” it focuses on the Middle East conflict and decries human rights violations by the Israeli Army in Gaza and the West Bank.

Its critics have denounced the singling out of Israel as unfair, anti-Jewish, and even anti-Semitic, given that war crimes and human rights violations take place in other countries as