Exclusive: Pro-Israel Groups Release a Statement on Berkeley Controversy

October 3, 2022

We, the undersigned Jewish and pro-Israel organizations, are disappointed by recent events at the University of California, Berkeley, in which nine registered student organizations at Berkeley Law have amended their bylaws to ban any speakers that support Israel or Zionism — a standard Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky noted would ban both himself and 90% of his Jewish students from speaking at events hosted by these organizations.

Gallup in 2019 found that 95% of American Jews support Israel, and Pew in 2020 indicated that “eight-in-ten U.S. Jews say caring about Israel is an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them.”

Jewish faith and identity for millennia have been anchored by the desire to restore sovereignty in our indigenous homeland, the core idea of Zionism. Like observing Shabbat and kosher dietary laws, Zionism is vital to the consciousness of many, if not most, Jews.

The bylaw is a vicious attempt to marginalize and stigmatize the Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel community and to normalize the requirement that Zionist Jews hide or alter a fundamental aspect of their identity in order to be fully accepted in certain arenas. This is unabashed antisemitism. The fact that nine student organizations at Berkeley Law have already adopted this view raises a very real concern that they will work to persuade others to do the same. Indeed, such a requirement by even one club is too many.

The implication is unambiguous: Berkeley Law is telling its Zionist Jewish students to get used to the idea that there will be certain spaces in which they are not welcome.

The UC Regents have spoken to this issue with firmness: “Anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic forms of anti-Zionism and other forms of discrimination have no place at the University of California.” And their instructions to university leaders have been clear: “The Regents call on University leaders actively to challenge anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination when and wherever they emerge within the University community.”

We therefore call upon Berkeley Law to immediately take all lawful and necessary steps to ensure that none of its student organizations is permitted to discriminate against Jews based on any aspect of their Jewish identity, including their Zionism. As a first step, the nine student organizations should rescind the new, discriminatory provisions from their bylaws or face appropriate sanctions for their failure to do so.

(List in formation)
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alums for Campus Fairness
American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
American Jewish Committee
A Wider Bridge
B’nai B’rith International
CAMERA on Campus
Club Z
Combat Antisemitism Movement
CUFI on Campus
Democratic Majority for Israel
Foundation to Combat Antisemitism
Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc.
Hasbara Fellowships
ISGAP
Israel on Campus Coalition
Israeli-American Council (IAC)
JewBelong
Jewish Institute for Liberal Values
Jewish on Campus
Jewish National Fund – USA
Jewish Studies Zionist Network
Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A
London Centre (LCSCA)
Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law
Orthodox Union
Orthodox Union-Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus
Passages
Simon Wiesenthal Center
StandWithUs
StandWithUs Center for Combating Antisemitism
StopAntisemitism
Students Supporting Israel
The Lawfare Project
The Philos Project
World Jewish Congress
World Values Network
Zeta Beta Tau

Statement from 150 student groups »

Editor’s note: Because the list is growing, the headline has been revised to remove the number 26.