The pro-Palestinian group Students for Justice for Palestine (SJP) issued a provocative call for UC Santa Cruz to boycott both Israeli and Jewish community organizations, listing "demands" posted on social media.
Under its push for a "complete academic boycott," SJP demands that the California university "Cut ties UC-wide with all Zionist organizations – including study abroad programs, fellowships, seminars, research collaborations, and universities. Cut ties with the Hellen Diller Foundation, Koret Foundation, Israel Institute, and Hillel International."
Founded in 1923, Hillel has grown into the largest and most inclusive Jewish campus organization with nearly 1000 sites on campuses worldwide. Hillel provides kosher Shabbat meals on campus, Tikkun Olam environmental projects, and academic scholarships for Jewish students.
The Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) wrote on X, "Three of the four organizations cited in the academic boycott demand by encampment activists at UCSC are Jewish charities and communal groups. They are pillars of the Jewish community."
Congressman Ritchie Torres wrote on X, "We are supposed to pretend, for the sake of political correctness, that SJP is simply criticizing the Israeli government rather than targeting Jews. Attacking Jewish institutions, however, is not criticism. It's antisemitism."
Students for Justice in Palestine is demanding a boycott of Hillel, a Jewish institution.
We are supposed to pretend, for the sake of political correctness, that SJP is simply criticizing the Israeli government rather than targeting Jews.
Attacking Jewish institutions,… pic.twitter.com/oKSsRl7jt8
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) May 4, 2024
Dovid Bashevkin, director of education for NCSY, the youth movement of the Orthodox Union, posted on X, "Protestors calling for the removal of Hillel on college campuses is antisemitic. Full stop."
The SJP post also called for 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 Santa Cruz Police Department. It also demanded that the university call for a ceasefire in Gaza and "an end to the Israeli presence and genocide in Palestine."
Israel and its supporters have branded many of the anti-war protests sweeping US university campuses in recent weeks as antisemitic, while Israel's critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition.
