Thesis: Correlation with the conflict in Gaza is not necessarily causation.

"”While many of the demands of pro-Palestinian groups may coincide with the ongoing conflict in Gaza, this correlation does not imply that the war directly causes these demands. Instead, the rhetoric among these groups often aligns more closely with the longstanding anti-Israel doctrine promoted by Hamas, suggesting that these demands are rooted in broader ideological beliefs rather than being solely a reaction to the current conflict.”

This way, you clearly separate the timing of events from the underlying ideological consistency that might be driving the rhetoric.”

Background and context

• The situation in Palestine has been on the Council’s radar for a while

  • Myers opposes a proposed pledge (2014) that would ban students from taking trips to Israel sponsored by certain groups

• Case of antisemitism

  • Reemergence of what the author believes is the “Jewish Question”, TDB

• Resolutions in the past have condemned antisemitism

  • “A Resolution in Support of Jewish Students Amidst Rising Antisemitism”

  • Efforts to suppress speech in the past have been answered by USAC

    • Resolution for equal access

• Shortly after Oct 7th

  • Protected speech by non-USAC affiliated student groups

    • SJP

      • Mission

      • Letter to the regents

      • Al-Aqsa Flood

    • JVP

      • Mission

        • How do they define “Zionism?”

      • Reaction to Oct 7th

  • Protected speech by USAC affiliated student groups

    • CAC

      • Mission

        • Add their mission of “accessibility to all students?”, this may just be fluff that will overburden the point with thoughts of what they “should” be doing rather than what they “must” do

      • Position on Oct 7th

        • “River to the Sea”

        • “Honoring Palestinians on the front lines”

  • USAC February Resolution

    • Daily Bruin

    • USAC Resolution

      • The points listed

        • “Addresses longstanding issues related to Israel’s…treatment of Palestinian’s more generally”

        • “Given this broader critique…it is likely that the “list” of entities to be boycotted would extend beyond the Gaza conflict…encompassing entities across Israel and its broader economic and political structures.”

      • Resolution was sponsored by Verdugo, 10-3 vote to pass on 2-20

• The political climate at this point, given the rhetorical positions of SJP and CAC, and the desire to target Israel more broadly, resembles the political positions of Hamas

  • This is still “okay,” if they want to side with Hamas this is protected

  • Define the political position of Hamas

    • The state of Israel is a “Zionist Project”

    • Propaganda document

    • General Principles and Policies

    • Core Policies

      • Position 18

      • Position 20

The Protests

• SJP and JVP worked together on the protest

  • Demands

• Discrimination

  • Student testimonials

    • Lavie Levi

  • Symbology

    • Red triangles were there for two days and were removed without condemnation

  • Blockading students

    • Student barred entry because he is a “Zionist”

    • Frankel v. Regents of the University of California

• USAC presence

  • CAC and CEC were present

    • photo of both tents

    • CAC promoted their presence there in an IG post

  • Criticism of Verdugo

    • Eli Tsives who was also blocked, expressed disapproval of CAC and Verdugo

      • DB quote- “Eli Tsives… criticized Verdugo’s use of her platform to promote messages he believes makes Jewish students uncomfortable on campus. “They (the Cultural Affairs Commission) have purposefully used their position and power to make us Jewish students feel unsafe,” he said.”

  • CAC’s social media presence

    • Instagram

      • Protest

      • Nakba Day

      • Block

    • X

      • July 25th

      • Sometime after Nov 7th, 2023

• Is Tsives, who is widely criticized for being “attention hungry” and a right-wing media device, the only one who feels this way?

  • Dec 18th post by Hillel says they have been dismissed by student government and EDI

  • UCLABIPAC IG message

    • Labeled as “calls for impeachment” and published in the Daily Bruin on 2-21

    • Shows examples of discriminatory behavior on the part of Verdugo

  • Despite seemingly misaligned political positions, JVP works with SJP and vice versa

    • There is no social media evidence* that CAC will work with JVP or vice versa

      • Beyond political positions, the lack of a relationship shows that either CAC does not want to work with JVP based on Jewish identity or JVP agrees they are involved in discriminatory behavior

• Verdugo is compromised and unfit to work within USAC

  • All of the above represents a “conflict of interest,” as defined by bylaws, with respect to any political position on Israel

• Does the issue with USAC go beyond Verdugo?

  • They will not work with Hillel

  • They will not hear BIPAC calls for impeachment

  • Regardless of what they “should” be doing, they messed up based on a technicality by engaging in “unlawful behavior”, ie being an official part of the encampment and therefor complicit in blocking students from accessing areas of campus

    • Blocking “Zionists” or students in general is not a Title VI violation, it is likely a public safety and access law violation

• USAC is also compromised by the above

  • USAC constitution II.B.3.a.

    • rights of students to participate in all activities

    • rights of students to a fair hearing of grievances

• There has not even been a symbolic move made to address the uptick in antisemitism that’s been happening on campus

  • Case, case, case

  • The fact that they won’t condemn antisemitic incidents occurring during protests is proof that there is a conflict of interest with respect to political positions on Israel, and the Palestine-Israel conflict

    • Their association with UC Divest in Resolutions in favor of BDS is a perfect example of this

      • UC Divest featured the pig effigy in their own propaganda video (image)

• All of the above indicates their behavior is exclusive, USAC is excluding members of the campus community

• Their more recent resolution possibly targets Israeli and Jewish culture rather than Israel’s policies

  • It is questionably far reaching, and calls for the abolishment of the UCLA Nazarian Center

• Given Verdugo has been reelected to office, USAC corruption is likely to continue (abuse of power)

• The position and other evidence against the state of Israel together with attack on a certain group of students at UCLA—by discrimination, exclusion and abuse of power—proves an attack on a particular group of students based on Israeli national origin or association with Israel (against Title VI)

  • Increased likelihood that correlation is causation with respect USAC alignment with Hamas

  • The Israeli community (or the entire Jewish community inclusive of the Israeli community) is too small a voting bloc, theoretically or practically to change USAC election outcomes (by “Article Draft”, USAC represents an abuse of power)

  • If by the claims made in the lawsuit, and the evidence above, USAC has shown consistent bias against a certain student group, then they are seeking to “institutionalize” this bias

    • refer to “Notes” document The problem with student fees

• By the above, students should not pay their student fees

  • 86.11 Conditions for Support “Particular programs and activities of a Registered Campus Organization funded from compulsory campus-based student fees shall be open to participation by the entire campus community.”

Refresher Notes

**Verdugo was on the council during 2021-2022 year when the last Resolution condemning antisemitism was passed

Jewish students seek court order against UCLA’s antisemitic encampments before fall semester https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_8bf5303c-33c5-11ef-b5b7-7370c3907658.html https://www.becketlaw.org/media/jewish-students-seek-court-order-against-uclas-antisemitic-encampments-before-fall-semester/ https://www.becketlaw.org/case/frankel-v-regents-of-the-university-of-california/ https://becketnewsite.s3.amazonaws.com/20240605222051/Complaint-in-Frankel-v.-Regents-of-UCLA.pdf