UC regent rebukes Ethnic Studies Council for pro-Hamas statement “rife with falsehoods about Israel”

Henry Fuseli: Oedipus Cursing His Son Polynices, 1786. Image in Public Domain

Just 1 of 26 University of California Regents has spoken out against the Ethnic Studies Faculty Council's 10.16 statement, which equated labeling the Hamas attack “terrorism” with a malevolent “colonial narrative” bent on ethnic cleansing. Campus Reform reports that Jay Sures—UC Regent since 2019—criticized the council's letter as “appalling and repugnant,” given what he claims are “absolutely verifiable and undeniable” facts.

Jonathan “Jay” Sures, a regent at the University of California (UC), is calling out ethnic studies professors in the public university system who signed a letter condemning the word “terrorism” to describe Hamas.

”There are absolutely no words to describe how appalling and repugnant I found your...letter,” Sures states.

He adds, “Your letter is rife with falsehoods about Israel and seeks to legitimize and defend the horrific savagery of the Hamas massacre on October 7.”

Campus Reform reported on the Oct. 16 letter, which criticized officials in the UC system for “ irresponsibly wield charges of ‘terrorism’ and ‘unprovoked’ aggression” to describe Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, which resulted in over 1,400 beheaded, tortured, raped, mutilated, captured, burned, and killed innocent Israeli civilians.

“You have asked for us as a body to retract our ‘charges of terrorism, to uplift the Palestinian freedom struggle, and to stand against Israel’s war crimes against the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people,” Sures states. “Let me be clear, I will do everything in my power to never let that happen.”

Sures argues that the Ethnic Studies Faculty Council’s letter  “intentionally ignores the reality of the situation and can be interpreted as a justification of Hamas’ shocking brutality in which babies, children of all ages, the elderly, the disabled, and people from all walks of life were shot, raped, tortured, maimed, mutilated, decapitated, and burned alive.”

“Those are the facts behind this current conflict, and they are absolutely verifiable and undeniable,” he adds. “To whitewash them is a flagrant and willful abdication of your professional responsibility and indeed morality. It is beyond shocking and almost hard to believe that your entire council would stand by your letter’s falsehoods, inaccuracies, and antisemitic innuendos.”

This article originally appeared in Campus Reform. Read the whole thing here.

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