Boycott U.C. Berkeley

Yep… you heard me (so to speak). I want to start a Boycott U.C. Berkeley movement. No more sending our kids to Berkeley, no more community support for the University. No more academic exchanges. Nothing, Nada, ZERO to do with U.C. Berkeley.

Why? Well last night the Berkeley ASUC (Associated Students of the University of California at Berkeley) took the symbolic move of asking the school to Divest from companies involved with Israel, in conjunction with the bigoted BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) Movement. In effect, the Students voted to accept a Boycott of only Israeli Jews.

SO… if this is the case, well then heck… we should boycott U.C. Berkeley. What does that mean? It means cut off our economic involvement with the school. Period. It means Jews shouldn’t take jobs there, Jewish parents should not send their children there, Jewish students should look for alternative schools to go to.

Now, is this realistic… Not at the present time, but nonetheless this is what we SHOULD be doing. I mean the University has made it clear that they have no support for Jewish Students or the Jewish members of the community that have patronized and supported the University for years. This is telling us that as Jews, we are only welcome to give them our money or our expertise, but in turn simply don’t won’t support us as a community and instead suggest that we as Jews have no legitimate right to self-determination or a national homeland. To put it more bluntly, they suggest that Israel should simply not exist.

I realize that this would mean a lot of pain on our part – but, so what. It would have meant pain to disengage from Germany in 1933, yet, I think we can see in retrospect that we as a community probably should have done that. Am I comparing a symbolic vote by the ASUC of Berkeley to Nazi Germany? No… .They are obviously not at that point, but, they have taken big step in voting to legitimize bigotry, and the time for action is now rather than waiting for something worse later.

For me from this day forward, I can guarantee that unless this was reversed my sons will NOT attend U.C. Berkeley, (and one of them wants too though he is only 10 years old). I can guarantee that no Cal branded consumables will be in our house. I can guarantee that I will not be buying anything identified with Cal from here on in. I will not be conciously supporting businesses that advertise with Cal anymore. I will not be attending ANY Cal athletic events for the forseeable future.

As a local business owner, I will actively promote a boycott of Cal summer camps

Here is a note I am sending to my club:

Dear ******* Parents,

I do not want to bring politics to our club as this is not the place, but as a business owner I think this is important and my conscience calls for this. Last Night the ASUC at Cal Berkeley passed a measure supporting the boycott of Jewish businesses or any Jewish academics from Israel. I find this to be a bigoted measure by the ASUC.

Therefore, I am stating that until this policy is reversed, ******** Volleyball Club will not support ANYTHING that has to do with Cal including attending Cal sporting events or attending volleyball camps. If the ASUC feels that they can boycott a group of people based on ethnicity, then I hope that you will all join me in standing up to this hatred and letting the University know that your money will go to places that do not support this kind of bigotry.

I want to urge you all to find other camps to go to. I urge that you do not attend any more Cal sporting events. There are plenty of high quality volleyball camps and events in our area that we do not need to give a single dime to U.C. Berkeley.

FURTHER, please let businesses that work with U.C.B that you cannot support them IF they continue to do business with this bigoted institution

Only by taking a stand against hatred can we support a better world for all of our kids regardless of ethnicity. The Administration of ******* Volleyball Club will be taking this stand and we hope that you as members of the club will join us.

Thank You

I hope everyone here will take this to heart. U.C. Berkeley is (or was) a world class institution. Now it is a school that actively supports Bigotry.

I imagine that this will hurt most with Cal Alumni, and I can understand that. But because of this vote, every time you support the Golden Bears with money, you are supporting an institution that has endorsed bigotry, plain and simple. This is sad and this painful, however, isn’t it more painful to see this once great school reduced to an institution that supports the destruction of Israel and the denial of Israel as the National Homeland and State of the Jewish people?

Sometimes it is necessary to take a stand against hate. Now is that time.