[Berkeley, CA] – On Wednesday April 28th, the UC Berkeley Student Senate will make a final attempt to pass a bill calling for divestment of University funds from companies that profit from Israel”s war crimes and occupation of Palestine.

The Senate had previously approved the bill in a 16-4 vote on March 18th. The student President subsequently vetoed. A 2/3 majority vote is needed to overturn the veto. That”s 14 of 20 votes.

If the bill passes, UC Berkeley will be the most prominent US University to call for divestment, after Hampshire College, the University of Michigan Dearborn, and the University of Wisconsin. The resolution by the Student Government is not binding on the UC Regents, yet if adopted by Student Government bodies in other UC campuses will surely require Regent attention. The bill meanwhile has attracted attention from the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC. In a widely circulating video on YouTube, AIPAC director Jonathan Kessler is shown at a convention expressing intentions to “take over” over UC Berkeley student elections in response.

Since March 18th, debate over the bill has electrified the Berkeley campus and drew international attention. Nobel Peace laureates Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of Cape Town and Mairead Maguire of Ireland, authors Naomi Klein and Alice Walker, and Professors Noam Chomsky and Richard Falk, issued public statements condemning the veto decision. “I heartily endorse your divestment vote and encourage you to stand firm on the side of what is right,” wrote Tutu.

The Senate last met April 14th in a 9 hour showdown that failed to either overturn the veto or end the discussion. Voting to overturn were 13 senators, one vote short. The record attendance of more than 600 people required the 7 pm meeting to be moved twice, eventually commencing at 10.30 pm in a ballroom hall, and concluding after 7 am.

The tense crowd listened to some high-profile testimonies. Supporting the bill were Hedy Epstein of Missouri, a Holocaust survivor, and video testimony from Amer Kassab, family member of Gaza war crime victims. Opposing the bill were Akiva Tor, Israeli Consul General to the Pacific Northwest, and Adam Naftalin-Kelman, director general of Hillel.

The bill was authored by members of the group Students for Justice in Palestine. More than 40 campus groups and 60 International, Palestinian, and Israeli NGOs signed a public letter to the Senate in support of the veto. These groups included the Council for the National Interests, Tree of Life Foundation, Gush Shalom, Bat Shalom, and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition.