The University of California, Los Angeles, is facing backlash after its student government wrote a letter condemning a speech by an Israeli hostage who was held captive by Hamas for 500 days.
In response, Jay Sures, a regent of the University of California system, wrote his own letter saying he was “disgusted and appalled” by the school’s Undergraduate Students Association opposing Omer Shem Tov speaking at an event on campus.
“Rather than hearing the perspective of a 23-year-old peer abducted by terrorists at a music festival and held hostage by Hamas for 505 days, those of you who voted for the letter of condemnation chose not to listen at all,” wrote Sures, who is Jewish and has faced attacks, including vandalism of his home, for his outspoken defense of Israel, Jewish Insider reported.
“He is a young student, like many of you, whose life took a horrific turn when he and his friends were kidnapped at a music festival and driven into Gaza, where he was held hostage and tortured for months underground without contact with the outside world,” Sures wrote.
“While your letter expresses concern over ‘a troubling disregard for Palestinian life,’ it says nothing about the Israeli lives lost on Oct. 7, including the shooting of many of Omer’s close friends. Nor does your letter mention the countless rapes and massacres carried out by Hamas on that day. It is as if none of that happened.”
Although the university has faced criticism for allowing antisemitic protests, Sures defended the administration’s role in cracking down on it and blamed a “small number of people who have a very loud voice that love to spew antisemitic hatred.”
Commenting on the letter, Dr. Zachary Marschall, editor-in-chief of Campus Reform, said the situation “is such a symptom of the lack of viewpoint diversity in higher education.”
“UCLA and every other elite school in this country needs to get its act together,” he told Fox News. “They hire leftist professors, and they are not hiring enough conservative and even moderate professors to give students a broader viewpoint of debates in the world, whether it’s Israel and Palestine or something else.
“The reason why you have this letter and other protests against innocent Israelis and Jewish Americans is because students are brainwashed by professors that only want to give them one side of the story,” he continued. “So I call on more universities to enlighten the minds of students, to make them aware that there is more than one side of every debate.”
A Campus Reform analysis of political contributions to Democrats from employees at 64 universities put UCLA at the top, with a 100% giving rate.
Marschall said Harvard University “is trying to invest millions of dollars into hiring about 30 more conservative professors. UCLA should follow suit.”
He said further reform will likely come in response to external pressure, such as the Trump administration’s February lawsuit against UCLA for failing to protect Jewish students on campus, and from donors withholding funds until they see changes.
“Don’t attend these universities,” he said. “Don’t give money to schools that don’t keep all students safe or don’t promote all sides of issues. Universities do change their behavior when their pocketbooks are threatened.”
