Overview
- The UCLA student council condemned a Holocaust Remembrance Day event that featured former hostage Omer Shem Tov, whose talk on April 14 described 505 days in Hamas captivity, calling the program selective platforming that hid broader state violence.
- UC Regent Jay Sures issued a public rebuke and said he was disgusted and appalled by the council’s action, and UCLA later praised the event as a message of resilience and said the condemnation ran against campus values.
- Student body president Diego Bollo said the statement advanced without key members present and promised a review of internal procedures for drafting and releasing council statements.
- Jewish campus groups said the council’s move was antisemitic, while critics of Sures argued he attacked students and showed selective outrage, pointing to past limits on pro‑Palestinian groups as evidence of uneven enforcement.
- The dispute unfolds as UCLA faces federal scrutiny over campus climate, including a Justice Department lawsuit about a hostile environment during past protests and a $6.13 million settlement with Jewish groups.