After seven hours of debate, the SDSU Associated Students University Council voted to approve a resolution that defines the Israel-Hamas war as genocide, calls on SDSU to divest from Israel and demands the university affirm support for Palestinian and Muslim students.

Student leaders amended almost every clause in the “Palestine Resolution: The Mokat Act,” before overwhelmingly voting to adopt the resolution on April 22, with only one vote in opposition and two abstentions.

An A.S. resolution is meant to represent the collective voice of the student body. This one changes important language to recognize the genocide in Palestine and acknowledges the censorship of a former A.S. leader, Mohamed Erekat, after whom the resolution is named, over his use of the word “genocide” in a personal statement on the A.S. Instagram account.

The A.S. Council Chambers were packed inside and out with students, and dozens spoke both for and against the resolution during public comment.

Audience members came and went over the seven hours of debate, but dozens stayed to celebrate the ratification.

Yucef Bouzina, the A.S. student diversity representative and main author of the resolution, couldn’t contain his excitement as he listened to the votes for the resolution.

“It’s the biggest relief that I could have,” Bouzina said after it passed. He and other activists had been working on the resolution since last July.

“This was a community feat,” he said. “This meant so much for so many people.”

Samar Ismail, vice president of executive affairs for the Graduate Student Association, was also celebrating with a small crowd after the vote.

“This is the first time the university acknowledged Palestine in this way,” Ismail said of the resolution, which she co-authored.

“Associated Students will close the gap, because historically, institutions have not been on the right side of history,” she said. “Students will step up where the institutions fall [short].”

The resolution passed with only one vote in opposition from Ari Cohen, student representative of the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts.

Cohen emphasized the importance of Israel for SDSU’s Jewish community and proposed the majority of major amendments to the document.

“Even though the resolution got passed, it got passed a lot better than the original draft,” Cohen said. “And to me, that’s a success.”

Photo of the second reading of the Mokat Act during an ASUC meeting inside the Council Chambers. The finalized resolution has not yet been published. April 8, 2026. (Roman Fong)

One of the biggest changes Cohen pushed for was removing the clause that demanded SDSU sever ties with the Murray Galinson San Diego-Israel Initiative, which has a program that places Israeli professors in SDSU classes.

Cohen argued this program should not be discredited or eliminated, while proponents of the resolution argued the program platforms propaganda and hate speech.

This clause, among many others, was heavily edited, leaving the final resolution very different from how it was presented to the university council three weeks ago.

Noah Stuart, an A.S. Board of Directors member and resolution co-author, said he believes too many compromises were made.

“I feel like we sanitized what the initial intention of it was, which was the acknowledgement of Palestinian struggle,” Stuart said.

He still celebrated the resolution’s passage and remains optimistic that it will lead to administrative changes at SDSU.

“I really do hope that they will consider a divestment from defense corporations that have an active partnership with any state [involved in] active, ongoing violence, especially in violation of human rights,” Stuart said.

Karen Sawouq, another Board of Directors member and resolution co-author, said she is excited for the impact this document could have in pushing for a Southwest Asian and North African center on campus.

“That’s something that I’ve been working on with some student leaders in this room, and I’m happy that in this resolution we’re imploring for a designated space on campus because of all of the harassment and multifaceted concerns that our community faces,” Sawouq said.

A.S. will release the final version of the “Palestine Resolution: The Mokat Act” next week.

The Daily Aztec will continue to monitor this story.