BERKELEY, CA – This week, the ASUC of the University of California-Berkeley voted to pass divestment against companies affiliated with Israel in an emotional 11-9 vote. 

The move came after a heated debate that began on Wednesday evening and carried on for close to 10 hours into Thursday morning. The Anna Head Alumnae Hall had overflowed with hundreds of students, faculty and community members who were looking to engage in debate regarding the proposed bill.

The bill, authored by Senator George Kadifa, calls the University a “complicit third party” in Israel’s “illegal occupation and ensuing human rights abuses” and seeks the divestment of more than $14 million in ASUC and UC assets from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Cement Roadstone Holdings. According to the bill, these companies provide equipment, materials and technology to the Israeli military, including bulldozers and biometric identification systems.

The final vote didn’t occur until 5:30 a.m. When the bill was passed, students who opposed the bill seemed visibly upset, showcasing their dismay in silence. But that didn’t stop individuals who supported the bill from celebrating.  Cheering, stomping and cries of joy by supporters of the bill had filled the room, according to sources

Many members of the Jewish community had expressed that they felt the bill would mean the campus is choosing one side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the expense of the other when suffering has occurred on both. Some students also reminded the Senate of what they called a hostile campus climate Jewish students faced after the university made an attempt in 2010 to pass divestment. 

Sadia Saifuddin, however, a supporter, said she saw the vote as a great achievement and the culmination of years of struggle.

“Tonight is not about corporations,” she said. “It’s about asking ourselves before we go to sleep whether our money is going toward the destruction of homes, toward the erection of a wall. I am a working student. And I don’t want one cent of my money to go toward fueling the occupation of my brothers and sisters.”