Hillel International issues Statement on Wednesday’s Protest
Eric Fingerhut, President and CEO of Hillel International, spoke out against the protests
Hillel International, the largest Jewish campus organization, released a statement regarding the protest on May 18th. In an email to The Tab, the president and CEO of the organization, Eric Fingerhunt, criticized the protesters.
The full statement can be read below:
“Hillel International condemns the actions of nearly 40 individuals who yesterday aggressively confronted and threatened a group of 10 University of California, Irvine students who were attending a pro-Israel event on campus. Individuals associated with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) protested the event and physically intimidated at least one Jewish student who was attempting to enter the building where the program was held. The Jewish students had gathered in a campus classroom to watch a screening of “Beneath the Helmet” hosted by Students Supporting Israel (SSI) with the support of UC Irvine Hillel.
Hillel professionals attempted to maintain a safe environment for the Jewish students in attendance. When that was no longer possible, university police were contacted. While the protest was allowed to continue, the university took steps to protect the Jewish students.
Hillel is working with the university administration to ensure the safety of Jewish students and the entire campus community. The safety of students is our top priority.
We cannot allow Jewish students to be intimidated, threatened or harassed when they exercise their rights to assemble for student programming. Hillel is committed to freedom of speech and freedom of expression for all students. This includes the students who peacefully gathered to watch a film yesterday.
We support the efforts of UC Irvine’s leadership to investigate and resolve this incident in an appropriate and timely fashion and to hold students who threated Jewish students accountable for their actions. We encourage the administration to ensure that campus codes of conduct provide for a civil atmosphere and tolerant environment for all students.”
The Tab has reached out to SJP for comment on the events, but has not received any at this time.