California students approve resolution to remove Sabra hummus from campus
The University of California-Riverside student government decided to remove Israeli-owned Sabra hummus from campus dining areas by a vote of 13 to 0.
By JTAHummus(photo credit: Courtesy)
The student government at University of California voted to approve a resolution calling for the removal of Sabra brand hummus from campus dining services.The resolution passed last week by a vote of 13 to 0 with one abstention. The removal was requested because the Sabra company’s joint owner is the Israel-based Strauss Group, which allegedly supports the Israeli military.The resolution was supported by the campus organization Students for Justice in Palestine.The resolution is not enforceable, and the UC Riverside administration says it has no plans to remove the hummus.“Sabra Dipping Company is owned by two independent global food companies - PepsiCo, based in the U.S. and Strauss Group, which is headquartered in Israel,” Sabra Spokeswoman Ilya Welfeld said in a statement issued to local NBC affiliate NBC4.“Each company is a separate entity and independent company,” she said, adding that Sabra has “no political positions or affiliations.”In 2015, the campus dining service removed Sabra hummus after it was approached by the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter on campus. The brand was briefly replaced by Mediterranean Snacks’ brand of hummus, Tapaz2Go. Sabra hummus was restored after the university realized there was an underlying political position taken by removing it.In March 2014, the school’s student government passed a resolution urging administrators to divest from Israel, but rescinded it the following month.DePaul University briefly stopped offering Sabra hummus in 2011 before reinstating it, and a year earlier, students at Princeton University voted on the issue. In neither case was Sabra hummus permanently removed from the campus dining facilities.