Virginia ST, US 10/23-2021 - The Graduate Student Council at Virginia Tech School has called on the university to boycott all Israeli academic institutions that are complicit in maintaining the Israeli occupation that denies basic Palestinian rights.

In its decision, the Council called for the withdrawal of investments from all institutions and companies that benefit from the Israeli occupation state, accusing it of practicing “ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians since 1948, and continuing to perpetuate “colonial violence” against the Palestinians until today.

The decision provoked angry reactions from the pro-Israel lobby institutions in the United States, where the Alumni Organization for University Justice (a student arm of the pro-Israeli right-wing AIPAC organization) condemned the decision, calling it “shameful” and meeting the “internationally accepted definition of anti-Semitism.”

The organization said, in a statement, "The university is a global academic institution that is supposed to be a safe and welcoming place for Jewish students, and for this, we call on its administration to condemn this outrageous decision, and to move quickly to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism, as did countless other universities and institutions."

The CEO of the Israeli "Stand With Us" organization (a public relations wing of AIPAC and founding partner) tweeted against the decision, calling it "anti-Semitic."

He said: "I hope that the rector of the university will speak out against this terrible decision!"

AMCHA, an organization that monitors so-called anti-Semitism, tweeted an academic boycott over the decision, saying it "corrupts the educational opportunities and academic freedom of students at the university."

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) tweeted that it was "outraged" by the vote on the decision, and called on the university's administration to condemn it, noting that restricting academic freedom is inconsistent with the values ​​of higher education.

It is noteworthy that Virginia Tech is headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, and is a research university established in 1872. It is considered one of the oldest American universities, with a student population of about 37,000, an annual budget of about $1.5 billion, and more than 1,500 teachers.

It is noteworthy that this decision was voted on during the Alumni and Professional Student Council meeting last Thursday, and it was officially adopted on Friday.