As we learn to advocate for our clients and communities, to further social justice, and to challenge institutional and systemic oppression, we find the Brown School’s silence on the genocide in Palestine fundamentally hypocritical and thoroughly in opposition to our institutional values.

To be “pro-Palestine,” one does not have to justify the horrific acts of terror that were committed on Oct. 7. To be “pro-Palestine,” one need not be anti-Israel. And being anti-Israel doesn’t make one effectively pro-Palestine.

“The WUIMC has a fiduciary responsibility to make decisions that are financially, ethically, and legally dubious (to put it nicely). The WUIMC will only seek to profit from the violation of basic human rights and dignity when the Chancellor deems it ‘socially responsible’ to do so.”

There is no genocide against the Palestinians. As journalists, you have an ethical duty to push back on statements that are probably untrue. Do better.

Let’s not forget why Israel exists. It’s not a mere luxury. It is a necessity. It is necessary for the survival of the Jewish people. Our people have long been subjected to pogroms and persecutions, so it is clear that the Jewish state is the only safe haven for Jewish people when the world inevitably turns on us.

We must be honest in our understanding of history and recognize that, as Jews and as people, we are, and always have been, a part of the anti-Zionist movement.

The only substantive effect this resolution might have is intimidating and alienating Jewish students on our campus, and it is this effect that we can and must resist.

I call on Chancellor Martin and the Board of Trustees to show exemplary leadership and take a moral and ethical stand against genocide. There are not two sides to genocide, and silence is complicity.

Regardless of one’s political stance, sexual violence cannot be tolerated.

Today, 150 days after the single deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, I ask you to take a few minutes to remember the 1,200 innocent souls we lost and the dozens who are still held captive in Gaza.