February 12, 2025

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Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine Protests Sabra Hummus in Harvard Lawn | News

Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine Protests Sabra Hummus in Harvard Lawn | News

Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine held a rally in Harvard Yard Tuesday to contact on the College to prevent serving Sabra hummus in its eating halls thanks to the company’s ties to the Israeli Protection Forces.

Protesters collected all-around the John Harvard Statue and chanted phrases like “Don’t invest in products and solutions laced with hate, Sabra cash a racist point out.” HOOP organizers delivered speeches to a crowd of around 20 protesters and spectators.

HOOP is a campaign, spearheaded by the Harvard School Palestine Solidarity Committee, that calls on Harvard to disclose and divest its investments in organizations tied to Israel’s existence in Palestine. Israel-based mostly meals enterprise Strauss Team — which co-owns Sabra with PepsiCo — has drawn criticism for providing fiscal assist to the Israel Protection Forces’ Golani Brigade.

Joshua D. “Josh” Willcox ’23, a member of HOOP, reported the protest’s intention was to unfold recognition to students and inspire them to boycott the organization.

“We really don’t want this company to be in our eating halls,” Willcox mentioned. “This is a typical move to not help and not allow any dollars to go towards providers that involve themselves in an apartheid state.”

Willcox said the protest was impressed by past human rights actions.

“We’re borrowing from the very same kind of motion that people today tried using to do when they desired to conclusion South African Apartheid,” he spelled out.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton did not respond to a ask for for remark regarding the protest.

Nadine S. Bahour ’22, a HOOP organizer, termed on students to rethink the effects of their working day-to-day decisions.

“What we can do on an personal foundation as college students is just earning individuals decisions in our every day lives,” Bahour stated. “When pupils come listed here for only five, four several years, the most primary act that they can consider is when they go to Mind Break not to pick an alternative that money the Israeli army.”

The Harvard Israel Initiative — a pupil team that supports “the Jewish nation’s appropriate to exist as a sovereign electricity in its historic homeland” — posted a statement to its Fb page Tuesday in reaction to HOOP’s protest.

“We stand in opposition to any try to solitary out the State of Israel and uphold the right of the Golani Brigade — a unit focused to combatting terror groups, which includes Hamas and Hezbollah — to protect Israel from all those who desire to annihilate it,” the statement reads. “Choosing to accuse a New York-primarily based hummus firm of “murder” is a terrible-religion attempt to delegitimize Israel’s appropriate to exist.”

Strauss Group did not answer to a request for remark with regards to the protesters’ criticisms.

Willcox stated HOOP hopes to develop its outreach on campus by a new initiative identified as Keffiyeh Thursday, a day in which pupils don traditional Palestinian scarves.

“I’m definitely thrilled about the next pair of months since on Thursdays we’re starting off a marketing campaign identified as Keffiyeh Thursdays,” Willcox said. “We’re seeking to carry visibility to Palestinians on campus and raise the awareness that individuals have.”

Willcox stated he hopes that HOOP’s endeavours will keep on to construct momentum by way of normal activities.

“We have to have to make absolutely sure that there are occasions like this each 7 days in the Lawn recognizing that this is an lively movement and this is anything which is not heading to be quiet,” he said.

—Staff author Ella L. Jones can be attained at [email protected]. Adhere to her on Twitter @ejones8100.

—Staff writer Monique I. Vobecky can be achieved at [email protected].