We, Northwestern Students for Justice in Palestine, demand that the University end sales of Sabra products on campus, due to the company’s documented ties to human rights violations against Palestinians and their financial support of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)—the military force of the Israeli apartheid state. The University's continued sale of their hummus, despite other more ethical alternatives, makes them complicit in the ongoing process of Israeli apartheid and genocidal acts against Palestinians, a process which Amnesty International recently declared as “a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity.” Additionally, not only does Sabra fund genocide, but the product itself is taken from the culture of the very people who they are supporting the killing of.

Sabra Hummus is owned by the Strauss Group, a multinational corporation and Israel’s largest food and beverage company. Strauss Group financially supports the Golani Brigade of the IOF. Furthermore, the Golani Brigade stands out by even the IOF’s dreadful human rights record: since 1948, the Brigade has carried out widespread violence against the Palestinian people, including but not limited to arbitrary assaults, detentions, home invasions, and the murder and arrests of children. They have committed countless other human rights violations, particularly in Hebron and in Gaza. Additionally, the Brigade’s own existence as an occupying force violates international law, as the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and the 1967 annexation of East Jerusalem are all illegal under international law. This Brigade continues to carry out genocide, and the sales of Sabra products are used to support them. 

Northwestern University has repeatedly failed its Palestinian students. Not only do Palestinian students have to face the burdens of the ongoing Nakba—the unfolding catastrophe that has afflicted Palestinians since 1948—they attend an institution that, while touting its social responsibility, has remained ominously silent on Palestine. In 2015, NUDivest passed a historic resolution calling on the University to divest from six companies (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Hewlett-Packard, G4S, Caterpillar and Elbit Systems) that support human rights violations against Palestinians. This call fell on deaf ears. In 2021, after a period of heightened genocide by the Israeli government, over 300 students endorsed a resolution calling on the University to not only follow through with the 2015 calls for divestment, but also to provide support for Palestinian students who were facing the emotional burden of the Nakba. Both calls fell on deaf ears. The dehumanization of Palestinians is not something new—the very least the University can do to begin recognizing the humanity of its Palestinian students is to stop the sales of sabra and STOP FEEDING APARTHEID.

In solidarity,

The undersigned members of the Northwestern community