BUZZ
Accuses organizers of ‘selective platforming’
Hillel and other organizers are guilty of “the selective platforming of narratives that obscure the broader reality of ongoing state violence” by Israel, according to the University of California Los Angeles’ student government.
The Undergraduate Students Association Council released a letter recently which “condemns” the April 14 event featuring Omer Tov, whom Hamas took hostage on October 7, 2023. On April 14, Jewish people commemorate the 6 million Jews killed during the Holocaust.
Student government members “affirm the humanity of all people impacted by violence,” but said the event did not present the full context.
“Israel is currently continuing to carry out what has been widely identified by human rights advocates as a genocide in Gaza, while also expanding its illegal military campaign into Lebanon,” the letter alleged.
The letter accused organizers of “elevating a single narrative” which “serves to legitimize and normalize these ongoing atrocities,” since the event lacked “critical political and humanitarian framing.”
The campus Hillel hit back in a statement to the media and on Instagram.
“Hillel at UCLA and Students Supporting Israel UCLA would like to apologize..…
for absolutely nothing,” the Instagram post read. (The ellipses are original to the post).
The statement continued:
Members of UCLA student government (USAC) have once again shown they are anti-dialogue, anti-learning, anti-truth, anti-student, anti-Jewish and antisemitic in condemning our beautiful event last week with Omer Shem Tov, a young man kidnapped from a music festival and held, tortured, and treated inhumanely as a hostage and human slave by Hamas in Gaza for over 500 days.
Omer’s story rang loudly and proudly on campus last week, as the world was observing Yom Hashoah- when we remind ourselves and our allies to never forget the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. How appropriate, then, that Omer was here to help remind UCLA of humanity in times of darkness.
The student government letter drew criticism from commentators.
“Shame on UCLA and the terrorism supporters they are grooming on campus,” Sam Yebri wrote on X.
“This is a comical level of moral failure,” Shaun Maguire wrote.
“The astounding & sickening sociopathy of uni students who refuse to see that Omer was 21, the age of a UCLA senior, when taken hostage from a music fest and for 505 days tortured, shackled, & starved by HAMAS- or is that narrative not fun enough for the coddled privileged,” University of Haifa historian Sara Hirschhorn wrote.
Student government leaders demanded the university “immediately reconsider its role in sponsoring future programming that advances incomplete and harmful representations of ongoing violence.”
The current president of the student government, Diego Bollo, previously championed his support for “free speech,” while running for the office last year.
“From marching in Sacramento for undocumented students’ right to employment, to mobilizing at City Hall against attacks on free speech, and organizing on-campus mutual aids during the LA Wildfires—I have prioritized the needs of students in response to both longstanding challenges and emerging issues,” he wrote in his candidate statement.
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