n a brazenly timed move, UMD’s student government passed a BDS resolution on Yom Kippur, igniting fury from Jewish leaders who called it blatant exclusion.
The University of Maryland’s Student Government Association (SGA) provoked outrage Wednesday night when it voted to adopt a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution — deliberately scheduling the vote on the eve of Yom Kippur, ensuring observant Jewish students were silenced on their holiest day.
The resolution, which passed 29–1, urges the university and its foundation to boycott companies and academic institutions allegedly tied to Israel. Though university officials confirmed the vote was purely symbolic and has no binding effect on investment policy, the damage was done — sending a message that demonizing Israel takes priority over protecting Jewish students from exclusion.
Rabbi Ari Israel, executive director of UMD Hillel, blasted the move: “Holding a vote that seeks to demonize the Jewish homeland on a day when Jewish students cannot participate is exclusionary, biased, and flat-out wrong.”
This is not the first time BDS activists at Maryland have targeted Jewish holidays to push their agenda. Previous failed efforts in 2017, 2019 (on Passover), and 2024 followed a similar pattern, exposing a deliberate strategy to marginalize Jewish voices.
In protest, 18 Jewish student organizations — including UMD Hillel — announced a boycott of future SGA sessions on the issue, condemning the calculated timing.
Shockingly, during the debate, student Abel Amene dismissed concerns, accusing Jewish students of “exceptionalism” and justifying the timing by invoking false claims of “genocide.” His remarks underscored the toxic rhetoric driving the BDS campaign, which paints Israel as criminal while ignoring Hamas terrorism and Iran-backed incitement.
UMD, home to one of the largest Jewish student populations in the U.S., has seen a troubling rise in antisemitic activity since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre. Last year, the university even allowed an anti-Israel rally by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on the massacre’s anniversary, before later revoking the permit amid concerns it glorified Hamas atrocities. A federal judge later forced UMD to allow the rally, a ruling Jewish groups decried as reckless and dangerous.
The latest BDS resolution is therefore not just symbolic — it is part of a broader campaign to delegitimize Israel, intimidate Jewish students, and whitewash terrorism under the guise of “activism.”
