Yesterday, the University of California Student Association board, which purports to represent more than 230,000 students in the UC system’s 10 campuses, approved a resolution that calls on the UC Regents to financially divest from the United States.

Yes, you read that correctly. The elected student leaders, now well known in our community for targeting Israel, are now attacking their own country.

For those of us who have been following these issues closely on campus, this comes as no surprise. After all, the anti-Israel student groups have been successful in passing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) resolutions only because they have partnered with other radical and marginal groups to create coalitions in which each group supports one another’s special interest projects. For instance, the students who want immigration reform to be one of UCLA’s student government priorities promise the Students for Justice in Palestine that they will vote for BDS as long as when it comes time to vote on their bill, the favor will be returned.

This coalition then runs for election on a supposedly progressive platform, brings out their voters en masse, and succeeds in essentially colonizing various student leadership groups. When their leadership foothold is established, the being to use the group’s to pass their radical initiatives one after another.

Thankfully, in voting to divest from the United States of America, they have helped clarify how incredibly extreme and marginal they are. In fact, any polling of the more than 200,000 students in the UC system will reveal two facts.

• Students generally believe that these resolutions are a waste of resources, especially at a time when there is a massive tuition increase on the horizon.

• Students do not support the radical ideology of the zealots who somehow have managed to take over various organizations.

That’s why Jewish student leaders from across the state worked with Hillel and Bruins for Israel to organize a highly visible protest outside of yesterday’s meeting.

Their message? UCSA doesn’t represent us. It doesn’t represent any significant amount of UC students. So stop using your positions to pass nonsensical, unrepresentative, and even hateful resolutions.

The video linked here, which I shot on my cell phone, has been viewed more than 73,000 times in the past 24 hours.

We are proud of the student leaders and their continued resilience against a highly organized, well-funded, and extremely passionate opposition. This is the 4th time in the past 12 months that they have fought against these pernicious efforts, and our students will not back down.

Rabbi Aaron Lerner
Simha & Sara Lainer Senior Jewish Educator
Hillel at UCLA