This November 16-18, Students for Justice in Palestine is holding their Annual National Conference at University of California, Los Angeles. Despite the notorious anti-Semitic rhetoric used by this group, UCLA is facilitating the conference by hosting the three-day summit on its campus.
On September 27th, CAMERA Fellow Justin Feldman appealed to the UC Regents, voicing his concern over UCLA hosting the conference, and enabling for the spread of hatred. The National Students for Justice in Palestine conference gathers students from across the country that are complicit in the spreading of lies and propaganda rooted in anti-semitism on campus. You can watch Justin’s speech to the UC Regents by clicking here.
The aim of the conference, according to SJP, “is to remind us that Zionism is not an insurmountable force. We know that Zionism is ethnic cleansing, destruction, mass expulsion, apartheid, and death, but it is also something very tangible. The reason we can have hope is that Zionism is a human ideology and a set of laws that have been challenged and can be destroyed.” Language like this suggesting that Zionists and by extension, Jews, need to be destroyed is nothing short of anti-semitic.
CAMERA is assisting students at UCLA to organize an Israel Pride Week, which will feature an educational display with information about Israel and Zionism for the general student body. Libel and lies, the students believe, should be addressed with education and accuracy. Students will be available for questions throughout the week preceding the conference.
CAMERA students across the country are rallying behind Zionist students at UCLA in solidarity. Binghamton University CAMERA Fellow Michael Harel published Anti-Semitic groups should not be given a platform on college campuses in the BU Pipe Dream, fact checking SJP and warning his peers about the group.
Micah Jones, member of CAMERA-supported group Northeastern University School of Law’s Alliance for Israel published Free Speech Does Not Include Violence on the CAMERA on Campus blog, reflects on the transition from fighting in Afghanistan as a US Army Captain to fighting SJP on campus as a college student.
In UCLA’s Tango with Hate and Antisemitism, Campus Coordinator Yoni Michanie urges people to sign the petition against UCLA hosting SJP’s conference on its campus.
“CAMERA’s 2018 Student Leadership Conference was life changing for me. I’ve been to several advocacy conferences where defending Israel was emphasized, but this conference is the only one that actually taught tangible skills and made me feel competent so that I can serve as an Israel advocate on campus”
