University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council Sides With Hamas

Recently, I have written about an insidious force within the University of California system called the University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council, which is attempting to make certain courses of study-approved by them- to be required courses in California high schools in order for a student to be admitted to the UC system.

I and numerous other individuals and organizations have charged that the curricula being advanced by these folks and others contains teaching material that would teach our children that Israel is oppressing Palestinians. It is this very campaign that has proven to encourage growing anti-Semitism on our campuses.

Now, in the wake of the horrific events of October 7 and the barbaric, evil actions taken by Hamas, this very council is doubling down and proving that the charges are true. They have written a letter to the University of California leadership criticizing them for their public comments condemning Hamas. They object to Hamas being called terrorists-which they are. In effect, this disgusting letter legitimizes the massacre of innocent Israeli civilians-Jews-, including women, children, and even infants beheaded in their cribs or burned alive.

The Amcha Initiative, an organization dedicated to exposing and fighting anti-Semitism on campus, especially in California, along with other aligned groups has exposed this letter to the public. In their own response, they urge the University to reject this radical and dangerous group and their ethnic studies curricula requirement. It is hard to grapple with the fact that the University can condemn what Hamas did on the one hand while having an obviously anti-Jewish council advising it and objecting to the University's accurate characterization of Hamas and its evil actions.

The entire University of California system is a mess and has been for many years, much of it personally observed by this writer during his employment at UC Irvine (1998-2016). This institution is in serious need of reform. This radical, anti-Semitic council should have no place in the UC system.