University of California students exclude Jewish student representative from voting on Israel boycott while accusing him of being part of a 'Jewish agenda'

Monday, December 14, 2015 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: University of California, intolerance, antisemitism

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(NaturalNews) Few Americans who lived through the horrors of World War II – and certainly few Jews who had to endure the incredible brutality of the Nazis – would have imagined that, some 70 years later, the same Antisemitism that once existed in the heart of Europe would reemerge – and yet that's what we're seeing all around the world.

And nowhere is this racist brand of intolerance more prolific that on some American college campuses, including the so-called "progressive" University of California system. As reported by Campus Reform, members of the University of California-Santa Cruz student government strong-armed a Jewish student representative into not voting on an anti-Israel divestment resolution, because they believed the rep harbored an unhealthy "Jewish agenda" on campus.

Campus Reform reported further:

"The Student Union Assembly at UC Santa Cruz voted [recently] to divest from five companies that the students say are complicit in human rights violations by making the equipment used by the Israeli military.

"The resolution called for UCSC to divest from Hewlett Packard (HP), for example, because 'HP systems are installed in Israeli military checkpoints.'"

The other companies named in the divestment vote included General Electric, Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin and Elbit. The UCSC claimed that the university "should not have a vested interest in companies that perpetuate systematic oppression and exploitation—whether based on national origin, religion, gender, race, or sexual orientation."

'Holocaust-related jokes'

Unless, of course, the school should choose to "perpetuate systematic oppression" and intolerance against the Jewish race. That's okay.

Such divestment campaigns have frequently – and correctly – been criticized as "Jew-hating," but UCSC's particular divestment resolution drew more strident cries of Antisemitism, because it intentionally excluded participation by Daniel Bernstein, a student rep, out of concern he was put in his position via a "Jewish agenda" (as if no other agendas exist at that university).

Increasingly, liberal Democrats in the Obama era have become a modernized version of the old Nazi party – through bans, demonstrated intolerance and intentional persecution of entire groups of people because of their heritage, religious affiliation or political belief systems – precisely the qualities and characteristics they claim to support and uphold.

Bernstein, a representative for Stevenson College in the Student Union Assembly, said he received a message from the chairperson of the Stevenson student council telling him the council had decided to exclude him from the divestment vote because members were concerned he was elected by "a Jewish agenda and that the Jewish community rallied with [Bernstein] to elect [him] the Stevenson rep."

"You will be abstaining," said the message, provided to Campus Reform, which posted it on its website.

The vice president of Slugs for Israel (UCSC's mascot is the Banana Slug), Stanley Traub, told Campus Reform that he has concluded the message behind the abstention demand contained "strong Anti-Semitic sentiment."

"I condemn the divestment vote because it has already brought upon an Anti-Semitic climate to UC Santa Cruz," said Traub.

"I have seen posts on social media after the vote was passed such as 'Hitler did nothing wrong' as well as various other Holocaust-associated 'jokes'," Traub noted.

History of Antisemitism at U.C. campuses

Campus Reform was provided screenshots as a way to confirm the Antisemitic social media posts.

"Additionally, I personally feel embarrassed to be a Jewish student of a university with a student body that has stated it doesn't support my homeland as well as that of the Jewish people," Traub said.

Last year the University of California system had to deal with allegations of Antisemitism following a gaggle of incidents across many of the UC campuses.

"In one instance, a Jewish student at UCLA was denied a student government position over concerns that she would be 'unable to maintain an unbiased view' because she was 'a Jewish student and very active in the Jewish community,'" Campus Reform reported.

Sources:

CampusReform.org

IsraelNationalNews.com

WND.com