More than two dozen pro-Israel faculty and staff members from Georgetown University signed a letter — as part of a newly formed coalition — opposing a proposal from their colleagues for the university to divest from companies and academic institutions with ties to the Jewish state. 

In a Thursday night email to the university’s Jewish student groups, Rabbi Ilana Zietman, Georgetown’s director of Jewish life, announced the formation of the new Committee for the Integrity of Academic Institutions as Centers of Learning, which is composed of professors and other faculty members from a variety of departments. 

Zietman also shared a letter that the new group sent to Georgetown’s Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility (CISR), urging it to reject a proposal from the Georgetown University Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine and the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. That proposal “calls on the university to cease investing in United States corporate entities that profit from weapons or systems employed to commit war crimes or human rights abuses anywhere in the world. But it makes it clear that the specific target is companies that have anything to do with any part of Israel’s defense sector,” the letter states. It points out that “to date, no American university has taken such a position, known broadly as BDS [Boycott, Divest and Sanctions].” 

Georgetown holds investments in companies including Google’s holding company Alphabet and Amazon, both of which have provided technology to the Israel Defense Forces. In 2017, CSIR rejected a student proposal to divest from companies with ties to Israel, stating that “divestment would not be an effective tactic to end hostilities or promote a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Jacob Intrator, a sophomore and president of the campus chapter of Students Supporting Israel, told Jewish Insider that SSI “stands in solidarity with and supports the letter from Jewish Life.” 

“Our greatest power and tool to evoke change is our voices, and I am grateful to every faculty that joined the committee and signed its letter for using their voices for good. Their support means the world to Jewish and Israel-supporting students on campus,” Ayelet Kaplan, a freshman representative for the Jewish Student Association, told JI. 

The faculty proposals to divest from Israel comes as Georgetown University Student Association earlier this week bypassed its standard protocols to bring forth its own non-binding referendum on university divestment from institutions with ties to Israel — deciding to hold the vote over the Passover holiday. 

Sixteen of the 28 members of the GUSA voted in favor of a resolution to put the divestment question before the undergraduate student body April 14-16. The initial vote was done in secret and without the approval of the senate’s Policy and Advocacy Committee — breaking from typical procedure, the university’s student newspaper, The Hoya, reported. The referendum will require at least 25% turnout and a simple majority of voters in favor to pass.

The BDS calls come against the backdrop of a slew of antisemitic incidents that have occurred on Georgetown’s campus since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. As the Trump administration issues demands to elite universities to crack down on antisemitic activity on campus — or risk losing federal funding — Georgetown’s administration has been less deferential than other schools. Last month, it issued statements supportive of Badar Khan Suri, a university professor and postdoctoral scholar who was detained by federal authorities for his reported affiliations with Hamas. 

Among Georgetown’s faculty, Jonathan Brown, chair of the university’s Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies and son-in-law of convicted terror supporter Sami Al-Arian, has gone on several X tirades since Oct. 7 slamming Israel. 

Shortly after the attacks in November 2023, Brown tweeted, “Israel has been engaged in a genocidal project for decades. I’m a full professor.” 

“Israeli security forces are lunatics. Israel is insanely racist,” Brown, who also serves as the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization, tweeted in March 2024.