Invest

Whenever divestment hits a college or other institution, a frequent response of divestment opponents is to propose positive investment in companies and organizations that support both Arabs and Jews in Israel as a counter to the wholly negative program of divestment.

While investment is a logical response to BDS, one that reflects the commendable desire to build and grow vs. punish and destroy, I’ve rarely seen much come out of these suggestions. Partly this is because divestment really has nothing to do with business or economics. As has been pointed out here again and again, BDS is a political propaganda project, one designed to drag high-profile organizations (by any means necessary) under the banner of “Israel=Apartheid.” As such, the idea of investing to benefit the people of the region means nothing to advocates of boycott, divestment and sanction.

But even when investment in the region is proposed (regardless of whether or not such suggestions were triggered by a divestment program), such projects are difficult to sustain (assuming they can get off the ground in the first place). This is no great surprise since most activism (particularly campus activism) involves short bursts of activity: holding a rally, protesting an event, sponsoring panel discussions or educational events, etc., etc.. These are all extremely important and valuable activities, but not ones that fit the “buy and hold” timeframes required for involvement in a real investment program.

Can this circle be squared? Can these noble sentiments for positive change via investment be channeled in a direction where they can do long-term good?

Enter the Israeli economy.

Two books, The Israel Test and Startup Nation have come out recently highlighting the incredible dynamism of Israel’s entrepreneurial society, one which continues to grow and thrive despite 60 years of being in the cross-hairs of every dysfunctional government in the Middle East, despite endless war and terror, despite even the recent economic downturn.

Such an economy provides open doors for those offering to combine good ideas, hard work and a willingness to take risks. And a group of students at the University of Michigan has walked through one of those doors, creating the Tamid Israel Investment Group, a remarkable student-run organization that connects members with entrepreneurs in Israel, providing opportunities to invest, intern and generally take part in the project that is Israel in ways that jibe with these student’s emerging identities as international businessmen and women.

Now this is not to say that taking part in the wide variety of social, religious and political organizations designed to support Israel should be supplanted by a drive towards economics and business. As we’ve seen in the two decades since Oslo, economic development will not create the incentive for those who prefer war to opt for peace. The battle against BDS, like the battle to defend Israel from its enemies and defamers can and must go on at all levels.

But one of those levels can and should be the practical activities of business. Tamid (an organization I can only hope will spread to campuses across the nation) provides students who may not have felt they had a stake in the Jewish state a way to connect deeply and professionally with Israel, creating bonds that will last a lifetime. And if they can accelerate their careers and grow the Israeli economy in the process, so much the better.