In light of recent antisemitic events, the Orthodox Union (OU) — the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization — stands in support of Jewish students at UC Berkeley School of Law.
Nine student groups at the law school recently signed a statement authored by Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine pledging not to invite guest speakers who support Israel.
The Orthodox Union, along with its campus division, Orthodox Union-Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus has joined other groups in signing a statement calling for Berkeley’s law school to take steps to prevent student organizations from discriminating against Jews based on any aspect of their identity, including Zionism – and for the student groups supporting the discriminatory statement to rescind their provisions.
Orthodox Union President Mark (Moishe) Bane stated:
“Anti-Zionism and antisemitism are synonymous. Infringing on Zionist speakers’ right to speak at UC Berkeley is an insidious maneuver to make Jewish students feel unwelcome at their own school, and we cannot allow it to stand. This act of antisemitism strikes at the heart of the Jewish community and should be treated with the same concern and condemnation as a physical attack on Jewish students.”
National Director of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (OU-JLIC) Rabbi Ilan Haber stated:
“The school year has just begun, and yet we have already seen a plethora of antisemitic incidents at campuses across the country – from Rutgers and the University of Michigan to American University and now UC Berkeley. JLIC remains committed to ensuring that Jewish students at universities are supported on both an individual and communal level.”