From 2001 until 2006, divest-from-Israel programs seemed to be cropping up across the US and around the world: at universities, churches, unions, municipalities and other civic organizations. And yet during this whole period, divestment failed to achieve a single lasting success. What have we learned from the rise and fall of divestment between 2001 and 2006, and what does that teach us about current attempts to resurrect boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) by forces hostile to the Jewish state?

Jon Haber is a Lexington-based writer and activist who has battled divest-from-Israel programs at universities, churches and municipalities, including successful fights to overturn divestment policies in Somerville Massachusetts and the Presbyterian Church. His writing on divestment has appeared in several US newspapers, the Jerusalem Post and on his own divestment-tracking Web site www.DivestThis.com.

For more information, please contact Congregation Kadimah–Toras Moshe at (617) 254-1333 or office@KadimahTorasMoshe.org.

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