Wiesenthal Center Urges New UC Committee for Hate Related Issues on Campus to Include State Department’s Definition of Anti-Semitism

September 18, 2015

              

 

U.S. State Department includes demonization of Israel and the denial of the right of the Jewish State to exist as examples of contemporary anti-Semitism.

  

The Simon Wiesenthal commends University of California Regent and Wiesenthal Center Trustee, Richard Blum, and fellow Regents Norm Pattiz, Sherry Lansing, Bonnie Reiss, and Avi Oved for speaking up for Jewish students facing escalating campus anti-Semitism at yesterday’s UC Regent’s meeting.

 

At the meeting, the Regents dropped a draft resolution designed to deal with hate-related issues on UC campuses and created a special committee to rewrite it over the next few months. Former Regent Chair Richard Blum expressed the frustration of many with the failure of the UC system to take action. He was quoted in the LA Times that he and his wife, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), believe that, “students who behave in racist, anti-Semitic or other biased ways should face penalties such as suspension or expulsion.”

 

Rabbi Meyer H. May, Executive Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Aron Hier, Director of the Center’s Campus Outreach Program said, “We stand ready to work with the newly appointed committee and its chair, UC Regent Eddie Island to develop a coherent action plan to deal with Anti-Semitism on campus that would specifically include the Department of State’s Contemporary Examples of Anti-Semitism.” The State Department’s definition includes the demonization of Israel and the denial of the right of the Jewish State to exist as examples of contemporary anti-Semitism.

 

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

 

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).