Economist blasts 'terrorist sympathizers' for pushing universities to divest from Israel: 'Almost impossible'

foxbusiness.com:

Former Trump Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland weighs in on the fractured U.S.-Israel relationship as the Biden administration grapples with foreign policy ahead of the 2024 election.

An economist is warning U.S. students calling for their universities to «divest from Israel» that such a move would be «almost impossible» to implement.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, First Trust Deputy Chief Economist Robert Stein explained that Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) supporters are mistaken about what it would mean to divest from Israel-affiliated companies.

«Any of the investments that the terrorist sympathizers would like colleges not to make are in index funds, in which colleges and universities are invested in a very broad array of stocks,» Stein explained.

Because index funds contain a variety of stocks, the task of finding a fund that contains no stocks from Israeli companies – and American companies that do business with Israeli companies – would be impossible.

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An anti-Israel protester at Pomona College in Claremont on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images / Getty Images)

«So trying to divest from Israel, and companies that do business with Israel, presupposes that there's some sort of similar broadly indexed fund, or ETF out there in which universities can invest,» the economist continued. «And offhand, I can't think of any.»

«Basically, it would be almost impossible for BDS to be implemented… logistically, a market would have to be created for funds dedicated to not investing in Israel.»

Universities would need to abandon index funds altogether and focus on