The divestment pressure is on and will only increase following the Goldstone Report. This on ended up looking better on a second look. Still, we must act preapmtively and BUY ISRAEL and/or invite an Israeli to participate in some forum or other. Our BUY DANISH was a wonderful success. He can replicate it.

SPME ACTION ALERT: SPME Urges TIAA-CREF Members to Call For Resistance To Pressure To Divest From Israel Investments September 14, 2009 SPME Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (click here to see members), an international organization of 28,000 academics world-wide based in the United States, deplores recent calls for TIAA-CREF (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund) to divest from Israel. The calls came from 59 academics, several of whom are well known for anti-Israel activism.

They demanded that TIAA-CREF divest for political reasons, but the company they targeted was one whose stock TIAA-CREF had already had unloaded for purely financial reasons. The case highlights the ongoing anti-Israel incitement and bias among those academics, and their failure to check facts. However, it has received considerable publicity.

We therefore urge faculty members with TIAA-CREF policies to contact TIAA-CREF. Please urge TIAA-CREF not to yield to politically motivated demands for divestment based on unconfirmed allegations.

If you hold a TIAA-CREF policy, please click here to contact the firm.

1) When you get to the site, choose Corporate Inquiry where it asks to"Select the product your question relates to."

2) Then chose Social Responsibility Investing where it asks to"Select the type of service for which you are looking."

3) Then add your comments, asking the firm NOT to yield to pressure to divest from Israeli investments.

Calls may be made Toll Free 24 hours/7 days to 1 800 842-2252 or you may send a letter to:

TIAA-CREF Boards of Overseers and TIAA-CREF Boards of Trustees
P.O. Box 1259
Charlotte, NC 28201

Please send any reply you may receive from TIAA-CREF to ScholarsforPeace@aol.com so that we may share with our colleagues in the SPME Faculty Forum. Thank you.

This action was approved by the SPME Board of Directors on September 13, 2009.

For more information: Contact Dr. Edward S. Beck President, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East www.spme.net at ScholarsforPeace@aol.com or call 1-717-576.5038 or Prof. Sam Edelman, Executive Director, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East at Sedelman@csuchico.edu or call 1- 530-570-8137.

Visit Scholars For Peace in the Middle East website http://www.spme.net