A group of students at a prestigious university took to Instagram on Wednesday to threaten to begin a hunger strike if the university does not divest from weapon manufacturers they claim contribute to “Israel’s assault on Palestine.”
The students at Yale University have set a deadline for their demands by the morning of April 12, 2024, according to a letter addressed to Yale President Peter Salovey, as posted on Instagram. In their communication, the students express their willingness to risk their health to draw attention to the issue, accusing Yale of being complicit in what they describe as “genocide.”
“We now make a direct demand. With the death toll of the genocide climbing daily in Gaza and the invasion of Rafah set to cause catastrophe, it is your moral responsibility to remove our institution from the list of those supporting genocide. History will remember,” the group of students wrote.
Coming soon from the same folks who glorify lethal self-imulation:@Yale University mass hunger strike.
This is a very dangerous precedent and I hope the university expels those who are leading this extremely dangerous initiative. pic.twitter.com/ldHU6RpOFw
— Rabbi E. Poupko. #IStandWithIsrael 🇮🇱 (@RabbiPoupko) April 11, 2024
“If these demands are not met by the morning of 4/12/2024, we will go on a hunger strike. We will risk our bodily health and wellbeing in ways that mirror only a fraction of the absolute devastation that Palestinians are suffering right now, until you do. Yale’s complicity in genocide must end.”
The letter also criticizes the U.S. for supporting what the students describe as the military conquest and colonization of Palestine, claiming that Yale’s investments are profiting from these actions. They argue that their existence at the university and in the country is marked by necropolitics—a term used to denote the use of social and political power to dictate how some people may live and how some must die. (RELATED: Yale Removes ‘Israeli’ From Salad Description, According To Students)
Despite attempting various forms of engagement such as conferences, talks, and protests, the students say their efforts have been ignored by the university administrators. They also accused the university of disregarding their free speech and voiced out their frustration over the perceived lack of response to their demands.
The Daily Caller has reached out to Yale University for comments but has yet to receive a response.