by: Nim Nahum, UCLA, '12 and Ashley Strain, UCLA, '11

Earlier this month, the pro-Israel community at UCLA woke up to alarming news.  Efforts to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel had come to the campus.  They found out from the campus paper.  There was no warning.  Pro-Israel activists, including three Hasbara Fellows on campus, mobilized and saved the day.  Nim Nahum and Ashley Strain tell the story.

November 1^st, 2010. 6:00 am. Just like every other day out of the year the campus newspaper, The Daily Bruin, was being distributed all over campus. Unlike a typical day where we read about medical breakthroughs, social action, and our losing football team, we opened the paper to read the Associated Students of University of California, Los Angeles (ASUCLA) meeting recap: “The services committee will potentially boycott using GE light bulbs in the Ackerman student union because of possible war crimes committed by Israeli Air Force Jets using GE systems”.   We immediately mobilized the pro-Israel community and contacted campus officials including Chancellor Gene Block.

Since ASUCLA is not the typical route for a political statement, we first had to understand the infrastructure of the group and why are they promoting such actions. After a few hours of Mossad-like research we came to the conclusion that we are not facing the same situation that occurred at the University of California, Berkeley and University of California, San Diego.  Unlike those campaigns which were run through the elected student government, this one was done through ASUCLA, an independent financial institution run primarily by student appointees. We also discovered that this statement was not drafted by ASUCLA officials but rather by an independent group who had approached the committee for approval.

Soon thereafter, we contacted the student body government president and past council members in order to discuss possible paths to connect with ASUCLA officials. We were immediately put in touch with the senior supervisor and one of the committee members. While it was clear that they had very limited knowledge on the conflict in the Middle East, our goal was to show that there are multiple views on campus. Thus, any decision made would marginalize, alienate, and divide our student body.

While this is going on the forefront of the pro-Israel community, Bruins for Israel, Hillel, the Hasbara Fellows, and other pro-Israel activists were preparing for the worst with the possibility of a full Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) campaign. These leaders worked around the clock making statements and presentations in preparation for the campaign passing the first few steps of the campus bureaucracy.

Within a week of pressure from the pro-Israel community, including support from our chancellor, the statement was retracted from the ASUCLA agenda.

While we understand that we have won the battle, the war is still long. We have managed to stop the first attempt for the BDS movement at UCLA. However, we know that this is not the last time we will see such statements. Fortunately, while this campaign was small, it forced us to renew and create new relationships with campus officials as well as contact outside support.

Lastly, we would like to thank Bruins For Israel, ASUCLA, Undergraduate Student Associative Council, UCLA Administration, UCLA Hillel, Hasbara Fellowships, StandWithUs, The David Project, CAMERA, CUFI, and Congressman Henry Waxman for their support.

Nim Nahum is the Internal Vice President of Bruins for Israel. Ashley Strain is the president of Christians United For Israel, UCLA chapter.