SANTA CRUZ, California (Press Release) – After learning of an appalling letter sent from the University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council that justifies Hamas’ brutal murder, mutilation, beheading and burning alive of women, children, babies, the elderly, the disabled and others, 115 organizations today demanded that the University of California (UC) reject a proposal for a UC ethnic studies admissions requirement. The faculty who wrote this letter are the same faculty tasked with developing the course criteria and standards for the ethnic studies courses that would be taught to all California high school students if the proposal is approved.
“The fact that the Faculty Council defends the inhuman atrocities of a terrorist organization committed to the annihilation of the Jewish state, and has publicly aligned UC ethnic studies departments and faculty with Hamas’ genocidal goals, is not simply morally depraved. It presents a clear and present danger for Jewish students in UC classrooms and beyond,” wrote the groups in a letter organized by AMCHA Initiative. “One only need note the inflamed university and high school campus climate to realize how a toxic curriculum that vilifies the Jewish state and its supporters and condones their murder will further incite antisemitism. For example, last Thursday, students at Balboa High School in San Francisco walked out of their classes and stormed through the hallway chanting, ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,’ a slogan which the ADL recognizes as a call for dismantling the Jewish state.”
The UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council, in its letter, not only refuses to acknowledge, let alone condemn, the genocidal actions of Hamas, they vilify UC for condemning Hamas’ slaughter of Israeli civilians and demand that UC’s administrative leadership “retract its charges of terrorism.” They insist that the heinous crimes of Hamas, whose founding charter explicitly calls for the obliteration of Israel and the ethnic cleansing and murder of Jews, must not be called terrorism. Instead, they falsely accuse Israel of “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “terrorism.” The Faculty Council also condemned UC for its public opposition to the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and argued that BDS “should be celebrated,” not opposed.
BDS founders have openly articulated their Hamas-aligned goal of destroying the Jewish state, and, according to the New York Times, “terrorist organizations, including Hamas,” are part of the BDS National Committee, which coordinates the movement globally, including on US campuses. In addition, in response to the Hamas massacre of over 1,400 Israelis on October 7th, the BDS movement posted a statement urging “meaningful support to the Palestinian Armed Resistance” and referring to the terrorists responsible as “heroic.”
The groups note that many of the 300 ethnic studies faculty represented by the Council, including the Council’s co-chairs, support and have committed to bringing onto their campuses an academic boycott of Israel — the academic arm of BDS — whose mission is to provide intellectual justification for Israel’s elimination.
“UC faculty who cannot acknowledge that the Hamas massacre is terrorism and a crime against humanity, and who state that anti-Zionism and the elimination of the Jewish state is a core value of their discipline, must not be trusted to establish state-wide ethnic studies standards for California students,” wrote the groups. “The UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council’s disastrous admissions requirement proposal must be immediately rejected.”
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Preceding provided by AMCHA Initiative
The widespread presence of ethnic studies programs and DEI trainings at university campuses does not seem to have reduced bigotry. Rather, it seems to have increased bigotry. These classes exist to teach that their are certain recognized racial minority groups and that their needs predominate over other groups. To say that what happened on October 7 is not terrorism defies any normal meaning of the word. The founding Charter of Hamas openly calls for the deaths of all Jews located anywhere in the world; when Hamas kills Israelis intentionally and the majority of those are civilians, that is terrorism. The letter asks to consider the background of the Palestinian people. Yet it says nothing about the background of the Jewish people. The article condemns Israel for a supposed genocide, despite Israel having many people of Palestinian ancestry living comfortable in Israel. Yet it won’t even describe the killing of Jews for the stating purpose of killing all Jews as a genocide. Not only are these professional bigots; they are also intellectually dishonest. Ethnic studies professionals like to speak of institutionalized racism. Yet they exclude Jews from being considered a race (although Hitler was certainly to kill Jews based upon ancestry, not religion). It’s time to acknowledge that ethnic studies perpetuates institutionalized bigotry. The taxpayers should stop funding these bigots. Recently, UC Davis ethnic studies Professor Jemma DeCristo called for violent attacks on Zionist journalists in the US and their children. Apparently, ethnic studies has nothing to do with making people decent and more sensitive people. It’s about claiming that certain groups have rights superior to other groups. Jemma DeCristo, being a Black transgender women, felt a kinship with the Palestinian people because of intersectionality–the belief that there is a connection between all oppressed people. Jews are not oppressed under the ethnic studies worldview.
Sorry… here you go :
ajoli@ucsd.edu, , ndeebsossa@ucdavis.edu , longb@uci.edu, dwidener@ucsd.edu, cathysue@ucsc.edu, maylei@chavez.ucla.edu, uyt@berkeley.edu, cjhong@ucsc.edu, jennifer.najera@ucr.edu, msifuentez@ucmerced.edu, dylan.rodriguez@ucr.edu,
dalee@gseis.ucla.edu, smalloy@ucmerced.edu, wmatsumura@ucsd.edu,
Here are the email addresses to the Ethnic Studies Council “Steering Committee” which wrote that disgusting letter accusing Israel of “genocide” with no condemnation of Hamas. Please send them an email expressing your disapproval for their willingness to condemn Israel’s right to defend itself and destroy a clearly fascist enemy taking orders from Iran, another fascist enemy that hangs gays and beats women into comas for not wearing a hijab. They don’t HAVE to pick a side and can of course argue that Israel needs to do better at reducing civilian casualties – although it would be nice if they would address Hamas’ massacres, of both Israelis and Palestinians. But it is going way too far to stand against Israel a life-affirming liberal democracy and choosing the side of a rapist, baby burning Islamo-nazi death cult. Pretty clear choice on this one.
Most people regard violence in aggression as wrong but violence in defense as righteous. The leftist view of violence is 180 degrees reverse: aggression is OK, but defense is wrong. Leftists do what they can to obscure their own views, but it comes out when they try to justify terrorism.
Absolutely agree. Shame on you! You do not deserve to be in any education facility. How do you know that your daughter or wife will not be slaughtered next?! Shame on you California for allowing such antisemitism to occur under your democratic umbrella.