Henry Cohen

Overview

Henry Cohen authored the first Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement (BDS) resolution proposed at Dickinson College (Dickinson), in November 2019.

Cohen is reportedly a Political Science and Spanish major at Dickinson, slated to graduate in 2020. Cohen is a member of the 2019-2020 Center for Spirituality & Social Justice (CSSJ) Student Staff in the capacity of “Meaning Maker Intern.”

Cohen is the brother of SJP-Haverford member and BDS activist Rosemary Cohen and the son of reported BDS-activist, Jeremiah Cohen.

As of January 2019, Cohen worked at his father’s Washington, D.C.-area bagel store, Bullfrog Bagels. As of December 2019, Cohen deleted both his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Promoting BDS

Cohen authored the resolution: “A Resolution To Endorse the Banning of Sabra Hummus from the Devil’s Den,” which was introduced twice to the Dickinson student senate, first on November 12, 2019 and again on December 3, 2019. 

The Devil’s Den is a convenience store attached to Dickinson’s official bookstore.

The resolution called for “endorsing the discontinuation of sales of Sabra products from the Devil’s Den as of Feb. 1, 2020 or when the current inventory is exhausted, whichever comes first.” 

In an interview with Dickinson’s campus newspaper, Cohen claimed that his introduction of BDS to the Dickinson campus was “about taking the moral high ground.”

The article noted that Cohen’s resolution to ban Sabra hummus threatened to adversely impact religiously-observant Jewish students who were unable to eat on the Dickinson meal plan when Dickinson’s dining hall lost its Kosher certification. 

The Sabra hummus sold in the Devil’s Den was one of the only Kosher and vegan options offered on campus.

A second resolution that was reportedly offered on December 3, 2019, by students opposing BDS, “called for a compromise to keep Sabra on campus, while offering an alternative brand.” 

The “Alternative Resolution Regarding Sabra Hummus” pointed out that Cohen’s resolution did “not consider the whole community effected (sic) to the proposal of banning Sabra hummus,” specifically addressing the problem Cohen’s resolution threatened to create for Jewish students who ate only Kosher food.

At the second reading of his resolution, Cohen reportedly added an amendment to his original text, stating: “Sabra hummus would be replaced with another kosher hummus product in the interest of maintaining kosher students’ ability to feed themselves on campus.”

Cohen’s resolution reportedly claimed to target Sabra Hummus because “‘the support of Sabra products helps the Strauss Group support the Israeli Defense Force brigade, which maintains a cycle of oppression for Palestinian peoples in violation of international law.’”

It was reported that when student discussion ensued on boycotting other Israeli-affiliated brands like Pepsi, Cohen insisted: “‘This is in part symbolic […] we can agree that other companies do terrible things but […] the symbolism is far greater for [Palestinian] students who see Sabra hummus in the d-den, it’s like a slap in the face. We don’t; need to focus on Pepsi right now, this [Sabra] is what we’re focusing on now.’” 

The alternative resolution proposed by students who did not favor boycott also reportedly noted that “‘Jewish Americans have seen a large spike in hate crimes directed at them in the last few years, [… and] Boycotting Sabra hummus is a hallmark of the Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to pressure Israel through economic means. The presence of this type of activity on campus makes some Jewish students uncomfortable.’”

The first resolution, authored by Cohen, passed. The second, alternative, resolution did not. 

After the passage of Cohen’s resolution, the university administration issued a statement rejecting the call to boycott, stating: “As an institution that deeply values global diversity and civil discussion and debate, Dickinson opposes this boycott. In 2014, we rejected the call from the American Studies Association to boycott Israeli universities and instead maintained our ongoing relationships with three Israeli institutions. We reject the current call for boycott on the same grounds.”

BDS

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true. 

One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”  

Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”

In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”

The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.

BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.

The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.

Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.

BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.

Social Media and Weblinks

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