Anti-Israel protesters in California have outed themselves as raging antisemites after demanding that the University of California cut ties with Hillel and other Jewish community groups that support Jewish students and faculty on campuses.
The demands were revealed in a flier for the Students for Justice in Palestine at UC-Santa Cruz.
Critics were swift and did not mince words in pointing at that the flier demonstrates 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,” Bronx Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres wrote.
“Attacking Jewish institutions, however, is not criticism. It’s antisemitism.”
In a list of demands shared on Saturday on social media, the group calls for the university to “Cut ties UC-wide with all zionist organizations — including study abroad programs, fellowships, seminars, research collaborations and universities.”
Listed among the so-called “Zionist organizations” were Jewish community groups, including the Hellen Diller Foundation, Koret Foundation, Israel Institute and Hillel International — the biggest Jewish student life organization in the US.
“Three of the four organizations cited in the academic boycott demand by encampment activists at UCSC are Jewish charities and communal groups,” the Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Counsel wrote on X.
“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,” the Jewish group adds.
Other social media users also called out the list for “effectively demanding the end of Jewish life on campus.”
“All the people going ‘but Hillel has a pro-Israel orientation’ to the SJP at UCSC demands to remove Hillel would never be okay with someone saying “but Muslim student union has so many convicted terrorist alumni” as a defense to orgs asking it to be banned,” one person commented on X.
Hillel prohibits chapters from hosting or partnering with groups that oppose Israel and gets some funding from the Israeli government, according to Foreign Policy. However, it is otherwise apolitical and stands at the center for Jewish life at nearly all college campuses across the US.
Another social media user slammed US-Santa Cruz’s anti-Israel encampment as a “terrorism recruitment festival.”
“This list of their ‘demands’ transparently declares the real agenda to drive Jews out of universities and suppress safety and hate speech control,” a poster on X said.
With their list of demands, the pro-Palestine group also calls on the university to divest from weapons manufacturing companies to “end the targeted repression and policing of pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus” and to “sever all ties” with the local police department.
