Taking strong opinions on issues outside the US is bound to lead to oversimplification and misguided resolutions, as happened with the pro-BDS resolution. As seen in yet another example, the union’s recent resolution on “No Cold War with China” (https://www.psc-cuny.org/resolutions-2021) fails to mention China’s mistreatment of the Uyghur, Tibet, Hong Kong, and its domestic dissidents (https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-my-cuny-union-condemns-israel-but-cheers-on-china-1.10017556 ). These misguided departures from the union’s core mission are therefore an embarrassment to our credentials as informed scholars and supporters of human rights.

Yes, Palestinians are suffering, but so are Israelis. The conflict is much more complicated than the way it is depicted in the PSC resolution. Both sides at times missed opportunities to solve the conflict, many times groups of extremists on both sides set the tone, and both sides took highly regrettable actions (depending on which side you ask, you will hear different and even contradicting accounts of this). But this is not a labor-based disagreement, and it is too far removed for PSC CUNY members to get involved in. Critical sections of the PSC resolution were presented and passed in haste in the last couple of minutes of the session with no discussion at all, emphasizing how haphazard the process was. We can certainly engage with the details of grievances as we go along, and show why the criticism of Israel amounts to baseless vilification (see below). However the critical first point here is that adjudicating this conflict is completely outside the range and the mission of the union, and it impedes our ability to make progress on genuine union issues.