Study: Universities who boycott Israel could lose billions in investment returns

The campus of Brown University in Providence, R.I. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

(JNS) — The endowments at the top 100 American universities could lose a total of $33.2 billion over the next decade if the schools boycott the Jewish state, according to a report from JLens, which has been part of the Anti-Defamation League since 2022.

The ADL assembled the “first of its kind” report by analyzing “the historical performance of two hypothetical large-cap U.S. equity portfolios: one broadly diversified without restrictions, and another excluding companies targeted by BDS campaigns,” the nonprofit said.

Some of the companies that the ADL excluded from the latter due to the boycott Israel (BDS) campaigns are Alphabet (the Google parent company), Amazon, Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin and Microsoft. It found a “substantial” gap, 1.8 percentage points, between the two hypothetical portfolios, with the one that boycotts Israel lagging behind with returns of 11.1 percent rather than 12.9 percent.

“Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Princeton are projected to collectively lose more than $8 billion in estimated returns on their endowments over the decade,” per the ADL. “Brown University, which is actively considering demands for Israel divestment, could miss out on an estimated $309,787,060 in returns on its $6 billion endowment.”

ADL CEO and national director Jonathan Greenblatt, said, “Calls for universities to divest from companies doing business in Israel are not only morally dangerous, but may also be financially dangerous. University investment committees have a fiduciary responsibility to prudently steward institutional resources.”