Menu Close

Sam Levine, Executive Director of the Zionist Organization of America, West Coast- Statement to UC Board of Regents Meeting (7/16/14, San Francisco)

Sam Levine, Executive Director of the Zionist Organization of America, West Coast:

Statement to UC Board of Regents Meeting

July 16, 2014

 

AMCHA Initiative is pleased to share the following statement in its entirety from Sam Levine, Executive Director of the Zionist Organization of America, West Coast given at the UC Board of Regents Meeting on July 16, 2014 in San Francisco

 

“This harassment and intimidation of Jewish and pro-Israel students must stop. The Students for Justice in Palestine, which is leading this witch-hunt against Avi Oved, is solely focused on destroying the Jewish State, and intimidating and harassing Jewish students on campus.

This is exactly what is going on at UCLA, where Avi is a student. This past semester, students were asked to sign a pledge in which they promised not to go on trips to Israel sponsored by Jewish groups.

In addition to this, a judicial board at UCLA was convened and interrogated two student council members who went on such sponsored trips to Israel, in order to invalidate their vote on the anti-Semitic BDS campaign. These students who were targeted complained that their studies were affected, because they had to spend so much time preparing to defend themselves against these bogus charges.

Lauren Rodgers, one of the students that was targeted said of the atmosphere at UCLA:

“For the past three months, there have been constant hateful, vindictive, and frightening attacks almost on a daily basis on those who disagreed or were perceived to disagree with the divestment resolution…The Judicial Board trial was the pinnacle of attacks as it specifically targeted me and my fellow co-council member Sunny Singh. The ongoing attacks on social media, the ethics pledge, and the judicial board complaint clearly demonstrate part of the campaign of hate by SJP and others against anybody they disagree with…Despite the fact that Sunny and I have been cleared unanimously by the judicial board, I am still truly scared to walk around my own campus. The campus climate of fear created by SJP and their allies is still very present and should not be tolerated.”

The anti-Israel forces are very clever. They are trying to raise the costs of being pro-Israel on campus, so Jewish students think twice before getting involved in campus politics.

Students should not have to apologize for being pro-Israel on campus. Students should not have to check their pro-Israel ideology at the door before getting involved in campus politics. Jewish students should not be harassed and intimidated for supporting their homeland.

That is exactly what is happening here. Enough is enough.”

Skip to content