Countering Boycotts, Liberty University to Invest Millions in Israel

Liberty University in Virginia has announced its plans to invest $5 million of its endowment fund in Israel, a show of support for the Jewish State which faces an anti-Semitic campaign that calls to boycott it.

Liberty University’s investment in Israel will go to a healthcare fund focused on venture capital that is run by a US manager with an Israeli office, the Richmond Times reported.

The fund includes fields such as “oncology, biopharmaceuticals, and digital health, with a strong focus on cancer immunotherapy,” according to a news release from the university announcing the investment committee’s late-May decision.

“Liberty is glad to be part of supporting the only democracy that’s a close ally of the United States that is in such turmoil right now,” university president Jerry Falwell Jr. said.

Liberty’s investment committee has approved devoting up to $10 million to $20 million in Israel, dependent upon finding other good such as the defense industry, technology and medicine.

In an interview with the Times last week, Falwell said the idea to invest in Israel now came from Gerald Strober, an author who’d previously written a book about his father Jerry Falwell Sr.

He recently suggested to the school that Liberty make a point of investment in Israel, Falwell said. The idea was to rebuke calls for universities to divest from Israel.

He pointed to what he said was a long history of Liberty University supporting Israel, dating back to his father’s time at the helm.

His father, he said, believed literally in God’s covenant with Abraham as recounted in the Bible. Falwell said he believes the same, and he’s to “bless” not “curse” Abraham’s descendants. Those words reference lines in Genesis.

The Liberty student government voted in 2015 to amend its constitution to prohibit legislation that supports “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” against Israel, according to the university.

The anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement promotes financial, academic and cultural boycotts against Israel, ostensibly as a nonviolent struggle against the so-called “Israeli occupation.”

Critics say its activities are a modern form of anti-Semitism, and its true objective is to destroy the State of Israel.

By: United with Israel Staff

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