A recent flier distributed by the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has sparked outrage and accusations of antisemitism. The flier demands that the university cut ties with Jewish community groups, including Hillel International, which supports Jewish students and faculty on campuses.
Bronx Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres and others have condemned the demands as clear antisemitism. “We are supposed to pretend, for the sake of political correctness, that SJP is simply criticizing the Israeli government rather than targeting Jews,” Torres wrote. “Attacking Jewish institutions, however, is not criticism. It’s antisemitism.”
The Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council also spoke out, stating that the demands target Jewish charities and communal groups, revealing underlying antisemitism. “Three of the four organizations cited in the academic boycott demand by encampment activists at UCSC are Jewish charities and communal groups,” the council wrote. “They are pillars of the Jewish community. This isn’t just about opposing Israel’s Gaza actions but seems aimed at Jewish institutions, revealing underlying antisemitism.”
Social media users have also condemned the demands, with one user noting that Hillel is apolitical and central to Jewish life on college campuses, and that the demands effectively call for an end to Jewish life on campus. Another user slammed the SJP encampment as a “terrorism recruitment festival” and accused them of seeking to drive Jews out of universities and suppress safety and hate speech control.
The SJP demands also include divesting from weapons manufacturing companies and severing ties with the local police department. The university has not yet responded to the demandsl
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2 Responses
Your yellow journalism headline seems tainted by Zionism. How exactly are those Jewish groups “unrelated to Israel”, one of which happens to have the word “Israel” in its very name and is obviously Zionist? As another example, at Hillel’s website, their “Vision” reads: “We envision a world where every student is inspired to make an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning, and Israel.” How is that “unrelated to Israel”? The very uncomfortable (for Zionists) answer is that Zionism is poison and anti-Jewish, of course.
HaKatan: clearly a non-Jewish antisemite posing as a Jewish anti-Zionist.