In the wake of all the anti-Israel incidents going on at UCLA, including most recently, efforts to keep Jewish students off of the student government (if they have traveled to Israel under funding from pro-Israel organizations), I have joined with others in writing a letter to Chancellor Gene Bloch to urge him to take strong action to stop the anti-Semitic movement on the UCLA campus.
Dear Chancellor Bloch,
My name is Gary Fouse, and I am an adjunct teacher at UC Irvine Extension, where
I have taught part-time since 1998.
I am writing to you in light of recent events at UCLA which I believe have
definite anti-Semitic undertones and should be addressed directly by you.
I am referring to the recent attempts by the Students for Justice in Palestine
and others to keep Jewish students off of the student government if they have
traveled to Israel funded by certain organizations.
To me, this is part and parcel of an orchestrated campaign to intimidate and
bully Jewish students and anyone supportive of Israel. It is happening on
college campuses all across the country and Canada as well. It constitutes
nothing less than brown shirt tactics.
Why is it that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become front and center on
campuses while the world burns in so many other places in the world? It is again
part of a well-financed and orchestrated campaign to destroy the Jewish state.
Behind it all is an unwillingness to accept a Jewish state in a sea of Arab
lands where human rights and the rule of law have no meaning. In short, it is
Jew hatred at work here.
But to be more specific to the issue at hand. Today, Jews all over the world are
re-living what happened in the 1930s in the run-up to the Holocaust.
Anti-Semitism is on the march, and the focal point is right here on our
university campuses. This latest outrage is not something (as has been reported
by the Daily Bruin) that the administration can leave to the students to
resolve. No. It is time for strong and decisive action by the administration to
make it clear that anti-Semitism has no place on the UCLA campus and community,
a community which has historically been heavily Jewish and where I (a Gentile)
grew up.
As much as I respect free speech, maybe it is time for universities to tell
their students (and faculty) to take this Israeli-Palestinian fight somewhere
else. After being involved in this issue since 2007, I firmly believe that one
day, there will be a tragedy on some campus in this country arising out of this
issue. While I pray it won't be one of our UC campuses, if I were a betting man,
I would take odds it will be.
I hope you will exercise your wisdom and take firm action to protect the safety
and freedom of speech of all students at UCLA-including those who support
Israel.
Sincerely,
Gary Fouse
Adj teacher
UC Irvine Extension
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