ZOA Condemns U.C. Irvine After Oren Speech Interrupted by Protestors
The Zionist Organization of America is calling on Jewish students not to apply to the University of California, Irvine because it does not condemn campus anti-Semitism.
ZOA in a statement released Tuesday accused the university of enabling bigotry and violating civil rights “by failing to condemn longstanding anti-Semitic and Israel-bashing speech and conduct on campus, and failing to enforce its own policies against the perpetrators.”
The group also urged donors to stop supporting Irvine, which has long been a flashpoint in the campus pro-Israel wars.
The ZOA’s call comes following last week’s speech at the university by Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, that was interrupted repeatedly by protestors.
In its statement, the ZOA said that “UC Irvine must now pay the price for its inaction. We call on all decent people, both Jews and non-Jews, to stop supporting, with their money and enrollment, a university that has been complicit in promoting bigotry. It’s the right and moral thing to do, until the university makes it crystal clear that it will stop tolerating anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism and that the perpetrators will be held to the same standards of conduct as everyone else.”
The Muslim Students Union, a major source of ZOA ire at the university, has accused the ZOA of infringing on its right to free speech.
“The ZOA has unlawfully threatened the MSU’s freedom of speech and freedom of association,” spokesperson Hadeer Soliman said in an e-mail to JTA. “It has long lobbied University administration and governmental legislatures, acting as a vigilante group to undermine MSU’s very basic freedoms. It seeks to silence MSU, and its tactics have resulted in an unconstitutional chilling effect.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
