Students at Tufts University passed a ballot measure that would prohibit campus police from attending counterterrorism training in Israel.
The university’s “Students for Justice in Palestine” chapter introduced the measure in coordination with the Jewish Voice for Peace. It demands that the university prohibit campus police from attending military-led trips to Israel and “apologize for sending the former Tufts police chief to a militarized training trip.”
The vote took place on Nov. 24, though the results were delayed due to multiple rule violations by Students for Justice in Palestine. On Dec. 19, the measure passed with 68 percent approval.
The organizations that pushed the resolution say U.S. police officers are being “militarized” by Israel during international police conferences on counterterrorism training. Jewish Voice for Peace claims that such exchange programs “promote and extend discriminatory and repressive policing practices that already exist in both countries.”
Similar campaigns have gained steam at other universities, capitalizing on anti-police sentiment to justify opposition to Israel.
A Tufts spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon that the student-government resolution is nonbinding and said the school administration does not agree that Israel has militarized its police department.
