For years, a Muslim group at the University of California, Irvine, has promoted hatred of Jews and Israel, displaying signs equating the Star of David with the swastika, and sponsoring events like “Ethnic Cleansing, Israeli Style” and “Zionism: America’s Disease.” Jewish students have been assaulted. At least two transferred and others have feared wearing anything identifying them as Jewish or pro-Israel. Students sought the ADL’s help, but the situation didn’t improve.
Then, with students’ support, the ZOA filed a legal action with the US Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It sought to enforce students’ right to a campus without anti- Semitic harassment.
Instead of supporting the ZOA, the ADL publicly disparaged us, accusing us of acting with “all guns blazing.” Despite the fact that civil rights litigation has achieved landmark legal protections for minorities and others, the ADL criticized our effort, commenting that “changes occur not through lawsuits.”
The ADL’s actions went beyond indifference. They were damaging.
MORTON A. KLEIN
National President,
Zionist Organization of