Brown University Trustee Resigns Over Israel Divestment Vote

Joseph Edelman announced he is resigning from the Brown University Board of Trustees because of its upcoming vote on whether to divest from Israel.

Edelman, the CEO of Perceptive Advisors, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal explaining his decision.

"I am concerned about what Brown's willingness to hold such a vote suggests about the university's attitude toward rising antisemitism on campus and a growing political movement that seeks the destruction of the state of Israel," Edelman wrote.

Edelman said it is "morally reprehensible" the university would even consider holding the vote.

"Especially in the wake of the deadliest assault on the Jewish people since the Holocaust," Edelman wrote. "Israel, like all nations, has a moral duty to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks, and that is exactly what it has been doing. It is revealing that of all the countries in the world, only Israel is expected to restrain itself because of the civilian lives that will tragically be lost in war."

Brown's decision to hold the divestment vote was not based on facts or values, but because it showed weakness to student activists, Edelman wrote.

"The university leadership has for some reason chosen to reward, rather than punish, the activists for disrupting campus life, breaking school rules, and promoting violence and antisemitism at Brown," Edelman wrote. "Brown's leadership admits the looming divestment vote is designed to buy good behavior from pro-Hamas activists, many of whom are adherents of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which seeks the destruction of the Jewish state through political and economic warfare. BDS is an attempt to normalize antisemitism in mainstream American institutions."

Edleman said many of the groups calling for a boycott of Israel have ties to terrorist organizations that seek to destroy Israel.

"Brown's policy of appeasement won't work. It's a capitulation to the very hatred that led to the Holocaust and the unspeakable horrors of Oct. 7," Edelman wrote. "How can Brown lend credence to these antisemitic voices? It's as if the Brown board has agreed to vote on whether Israel has a right to defend itself, whether Israel has a right to exist, and even whether Jews have a right to exist."

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