Is There a Connection Between the Jewish Federation of Orange County and Students for Justice in Palestine at UCI?

Just a simple question, that's all. On the surface, you would think there couldn't possibly be a connection. After all, the Jewish Federation of Orange County claims to be a supporter of Israel, while SJP is an open enemy of Israel and open supporter of the Palestinian cause. To SJP, Israel is an occupying power over Palestine.

In the on-going controversy over the UC-Irvine Olive Tree Initiative (OTI), we have questioned why the Jewish Federation and its financial subsidiary, the Rose Project, would provide funding for this venture even after all the revelations showing at the very least, an indirect link between OTI and elements of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). We have also questioned the claims of the Federation that OTI cements the bonds between Jewish students who participate on OTI trips and the state of Israel since at least three of them have been found to be members of SJP (at UCI and UCLA). More recently, we have questioned the participation of Shannon Shibata as a tour guide on the OTI trips given the fact that she is the founder of a Swedish-based NGO called Centre for New Diplomacy, whose board of directors are overwhelmingly anti-Israel activists, plus the fact that George S Rishmawi, Palestinian activist and co-founder of ISM, is also on the CfND staff.

Now that brings me to my original question; is there some sort of connection between the OC Jewish Federation and SJP at UC Irvine?  Why in the world would I ask that question? I ask because the SJP-UCI Facebook page lists Jay Feldman as a member (along with his picture). Mr Feldman is currently managing director of Alpha Epsilon Pi Foundation Inc. Until recently, however, he was Director of Leadership Development and Rose Project manager at the Jewish Federation of Orange County. In addition, he was director of development for Birthright Israel Initiative at the Jewish Federation of Orange County, as well as program director of Hillel Foundation of Orange County.

I know Jay reads this blog, so Jay, what's up with this? Please feel free to comment. Is the SJP page in error? If anything in this post is in error, please point it out, and I will make the appropriate corrections. If anyone else has any questions about this confusing development, I suggest you contact the OC Jewish Federation.

* I have chosen not to post the SJP website because it contains 189 names of people, many-if not most-of whom are UCI students, and I am a (part-time) teacher at UCI. The reader will have to do the legwork.

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Update: I have been in e-mail contact with Mr Feldman, and he has asked me to post this excerpt of his e-mail response (Third person names have been deleted.)

" I have never had any affiliation with, participation in, or history of
 supporting SJP (and never will, for that matter). Anyone who knows me, or
 of my long-standing involvement in the pro-Israel community, would think it
 absolutely foolish to suggest otherwise. I'll leave it at that.

 SJP is one of the most anti-Israel, anti-American, and anti-Semitic student
 groups that has existed in recent history. They're a destructive, and yet
 thankfully, very unsuccessful group most of the time. I find that most of
 their members are greatly misguided, uneducated young adults who are
 puppets and pawns in the effort to delegitimize Israel. The saddest bunch
 of students who are active within the group, are the White Christian kids,
 and even more depressing, the self-hating Jewish kids.

 Instead of advocating for the suppressed children of the world or the
 defenseless minorities in the Middle East, SJP groups spread lies about
 Israel and would have us swallow their anti-Israel propaganda.

 So, if this is how I feel about SJP, then onto your questions about me
 being on their Facebook page. I don't know how familiar you are with
 Facebook, but people are typically on many, many Facebook pages, none of
 which is indicative of their personal or political beliefs. The old
 expression "don't believe everything you read on the internet" rings true
 here. For example, many people are on both the Republican and Democrat
 party Facebook pages. That doesn't mean they are members of either
 respective party. Instead, they are interested in reviewing the content
 generated from those pages. But, I digress.

 I actually got onto the SJP Facebook page a couple of days after (name deleted)
 and several of the other pro-Israel student leaders got on. In fact, (name deleted)
 was the first one to email me about it, after he himself joined the page.

 Instead of utilizing the traditional email list serve like the MSU does,
 the SJP group chose to use their Facebook page as their list serve. More
 and more student groups are doing this instead of the more traditional
 GoogleGroups and YahooGroups email based list serves. It's one more way
 that Facebook is dominating e-communication.

 Several others and I had joined in order to receive the SJP emails and
 monitor their activities and event announcements. Every time a message was
 sent out to the people on the page, I was able to receive it in my email
 inbox and get it directly to my Blackberry. It was one of the ways we could
 get intel on what anti-Israel activities were being planned for UCI,
 especially during the time period when the MSU was under suspension. I
 would then share this information with colleagues in Los Angeles, New York,
 Washington DC, and Israel, etc.

 There is nothing new about this concept. There are several pro-Israel
 students and folks in the community who have been on the MSU list serve for
 a number of years to monitor the MSU events and track their anti-Israel
 activity. There are even pro-Israel organizations that you are very
 familiar with, who send people to anti-Israel events on campuses and in the
 community to capture intel. You have even reported on this. (Name deleted)'s blog has
 also posted forwarded emails that were generated from the SJP page about
 their upcoming anti-Israel speakers at UCI. The only way someone could have
 forwarded those emails to (name deleted) was if that person was a member of the SJP
 page.

 Eventually, a few of the more vocal pro-Israel students began posting news
 articles and links on the SJP page. and the page moderators blocked them
 off completely because the SJPers didn't like being challenged. The only
 thing I ever posted to the page was the following link:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAHHjfUxERY , a newscast about the sick
 brainwashing and hate indoctrination of Palestinian children. Today,
 several pro-Israel students and I still remain on the page. To be honest,
 until I read your fousesquawk blog post today, I had totally forgotten that
 I was still on the page. I'll make sure there are others who are following
 the page activity, and then probably remove myself in a few weeks.

 I hope this answers your question and clears up your misunderstanding."

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