Photo Credit: Wikimedia / Thomson200
The student government at Dickinson College—a small liberal-arts school in Carlisle, Pa., outside Harrisburg—passed a resolution on Tuesday night to ban Sabra hummus, an Israeli product, as part of a campaign on campus to boycott the Jewish state.
The person leading the charge has been Henry Cohen, whose father, Jeremiah Cohen, owns Bullfrog Bagels in Washington, D.C., and is also a supporter of the BDS movement.
An ensuing petition has been launched calling for a boycott of Bullfrog Bagels; it currently has 90 signatures.
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It mentions anti-Israel activities by both Cohens, including Jeremiah’s daughter, Rosemary Cohen, who was a member of the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Haverford College outside Philadelphia.
She said the goal of her school’s 2017 “Israel Apartheid Week” was “recognizing apartheid in Israel and American financial complicity in that apartheid,” while rejecting “peaceful dialogue.”
“I say there’s too much at stake,” she was quoted saying. “We can’t put ourselves and peaceful dialogue before a struggle.”
Bullfrog Bagels did not respond to a request for comment.
The college administration, however, did note that it rejects the student move to ban hummus.
In a statement, it said “Dickinson encourages students to voice their opinions and affect change through our governance structure. We are pleased that the discussion about this issue at the Student Senate meeting was civil, and that competing opinions were articulated.
“As an institution that deeply values global diversity and civil discussion and debate, Dickinson opposes this boycott. In 2014, we rejected the call from the American Studies Association to boycott Israeli universities, and instead maintained our ongoing relationships with three Israeli institutions. We reject the current call for boycott on the same grounds.
“Students have committed to continue with the open dialogue and active listening that they demonstrated during the discussion. We are confident that as they grapple with this and other complex issues, they will continue to seek out and consider multiple perspectives, and draw on the critical thinking and analysis skills they are developing at Dickinson.”
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