As the United Nations warns that Gaza is on the brink of starvation under an Israeli blockade, local protesters marked Nakba Day by calling on the University of Michigan to end any investments in companies doing business with Israel. (Nakba, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic, refers to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.)
To commemorate the occasion, protesters silently held signs outside a Board of Regents meeting on the University of Michigan–Dearborn campus.
They called on the university to divest from companies tied to Israel.
Hanan Saker, a member of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, spoke at the protest. She said the group will continue pressuring the university until its demands are met.
"They have chosen to continue investing in Israeli companies profiting off of Palestinian blood. They have chosen to dismiss the demands of their students," she said.
Saker also said Israel's war in Gaza demands a response.
"Our universities have had every opportunity to act with integrity and heed the cause of Gaza's children. Instead, they have deliberately chosen cowardice over moral principles," she said.
U-M's Board of Regents has said divesting over Israel’s war in Gaza would violate the board's policy of keeping the university’s endowment free from political influence.
The University of Michigan holds Michigan Public's broadcast license.
