Joseph Edelman, hedge fund manager and Brown University’s chief investment officer, resigned from his position, following the expected vote in October at the university to withdraw investments from Israel, as part of an agreement with the pro-Palestinian protesters in which they agreed to dismantle the encampment on campus. “I view the willingness to hold this vote as a stunning failure of moral leadership at Brown University. I am not prepared to put my name or give my time to a body that lacks basic moral judgment. I hereby resign from the Board of Trustees.”
In a letter published by Edelman in the Wall Street Journal, he expressed concern about “the university’s attitude to the rising anti-Semitism on campus and to a growing political movement that seeks to destroy the State of Israel.”
“The fact that such a vote was considered at all is morally reprehensible, and certainly if it does take place, especially when it comes in the wake of the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Edelman wrote in his opinion piece. “Israel, like all nations, has a moral obligation to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks, and that is exactly what it is doing.”
Edelman added that “I do not want to imply that any real principles were at the basis of Brown’s decision to hold a vote on withdrawing investments: it was not done on the basis of facts or values but on the basis of weakness towards student activists. For some reason, the university leadership chose to reward, instead of punishing, the activists for Disrupting campus life, violating school rules and promoting violence and anti-Semitism at Brown.”
According to him, “The leadership of Brown University admits that the expected vote on divestment is intended to ‘buy good behavior’ from pro-Hamas activists, many of whom support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which aims to destroy the Jewish state through political and economic warfare. BDS is an attempt to normalize anti-Semitism in institutions Mainstream America More than a dozen US states have passed laws addressing BDS as a form of discrimination.
“It is no coincidence that leading groups that support the boycott are connected to terrorist organizations that seek to destroy the Jewish people. Ultimately, this is the goal of the BDS movement, I cannot accept the reference to a hate movement as legitimate and deserving of a hearing. Brown’s appeasement policy will not work. This is surrender To the same hatred that led to the Holocaust and the unimaginable horrors of October 7.
“How can Brown give credibility to these anti-Semitic voices, who began demonstrating in support of violence against Jews even before Israel responded to the attack on October 7? It is as if the Brown Council agreed to vote on whether Israel has the right to defend itself, if Israel has the right to exist, and even if the Jews have right to exist.
“I view the willingness to hold this vote as a stunning failure of moral leadership at Brown University. I am not prepared to put my name or give my time to a body that lacks basic moral judgment. I hereby resign from the Board of Trustees.”
