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AMCHA INITIATIVE APPLAUDS U.S. REPS ROSKAM AND LIPINSKI FOR LEGISLATION OPPOSING ACADEMIC BOYCOTTS

AMCHA INITIATIVE APPLAUDS U.S. REPS ROSKAM AND LIPINSKI FOR LEGISLATION OPPOSING ACADEMIC BOYCOTTS

Contact: Nicole Rosen
communications@AMCHAinitiative.org

Santa Cruz, CA, February 7, 2014 – The AMCHA Initiative issued the following statement commending House Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Representative Dan Lipinkski (D-IL) for their bipartisan bill to make universities that fund groups boycotting Israeli academic institutions ineligible for federal funds.

“Academic boycotts violate academic freedom and are antithetical to the very mission of a university. In addition, a university-condoned boycott of Israel cannot help but create a hostile, and possibly dangerous, environment for Jewish students on campus,” said Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, co-founder of AMCHA Initiative. “We applaud Representatives Roskam and Lipinski for preserving academic freedom and protecting Jewish students.”

Last week, AMCHA Initiative called for California Attorney General Kamala K. Harris to investigate California State University Northridge’s (CSUN) Professor David Klein for illegally using CSUN’s name and resources to promote an academic boycott of Israel. In addition, AMCHA Initiative recently demanded that the University of California (UC) Regents investigate three UC schools for sponsoring anti-Israel boycott events featuring Omar Barghouti, the founder and most vocal advocate of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

The AMCHA Initiative is a non-profit organization, based in CA, that is dedicated to investigating, documenting, educating about, and combating antisemitism at institutions of higher education in America. AMCHA Initiative’s efforts are bolstered by a network of more than 5,000 members and supporters of the Jewish community — including university alumni, parents and grandparents, rabbis, religious school principals and synagogue members — who have joined together to speak in one voice to ensure the safety and well-being of Jewish students on college and university campuses across the country.

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