UC regent slams pro-Hamas faculty: 'Your letter is rife with falsehoods about Israel': report

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. 

1. Jay Sures, a University of California Regent — which is the governing board for the entire University of California system — has responded to a letter from the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council.

The Ethnic Studies Council’s letter condemned the University of California’s… pic.twitter.com/MBOA7r9KgK

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 1, 2023

“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.”

[RELATED: This university president took a firm stance against the Hamas massacre early on] 

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.”

[RELATED: More billionaires cut ties with Ivy League schools over anti-Semitism]

Sures decried the fact that the Ethnic Studies Faculty Council is made up of over 300 faculty members. “The thought that young and impressionable students might be taught the falsehoods of your letter absolutely sickens me.”

Sures concludes the letter by reaffirming his support to “protect our Jewish students, and for that matter, everyone in our extended community from your inflammatory and out of touch rhetoric.”

He urges the Ethnic Studies Faculty Council to retract their statement, as well as to “commit to learning more about antisemitism and all forms of hate.”

Campus Reform has reached out to Sures and UC for comment and will update accordingly.