Sures\u2019 message, written on official UC Board of Regents letterhead, is a rare formal response to a student government action within the university system whose governance he oversees as part of the powerful 26-member UC Board of Regents. Sures sent the letter, which was obtained by The Times, to the student government Friday saying he spoke as an \u201cindividual regent\u201d and not \u201cfor the board as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n
The growing controversy stems from a statement the UCLA Undergraduate Student Assn. Council published this month \u201ccondemning\u201d the campus Hillel for bringing Tov to speak at an April 14 event tied to Yam HaShoah, an annual observance of the Holocaust. <\/p>\n
In that statement student leaders said the event was \u201cselective platforming\u201d of an Israeli voice \u2014 with no Palestinian counterpart \u2014 that would \u201clegitimize and normalize\u201d Israel\u2019s war in Gaza and bombings of Lebanon.<\/p>\n
The statement prompted an immediate outcry in the Jewish community, garnering articles in Jewish and Israeli publications across the U.S. and in Israel that accused the student government of antisemitism. At UCLA, Hillel and another group, Students Supporting Israel, said in a statement that \u201cmembers of UCLA student government have once again shown they are anti-dialogue, anti-learning, anti-truth, anti-student, anti-Jewish and antisemitic.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his Friday statement, Sures, who is Jewish, said students had a \u201cdouble standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"UC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777062018_872_.jpeg\")
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UC Regent Jay Sures speaks at an event in Beverly Hills in 2024.<\/p>\n
(Tommaso Boddi \/ Getty Images for UCLA)<\/p>\n
\u201cYou claim you want balance in programming and more than \u2018a single narrative\u2019 from speakers at UCLA. Balance, by definition, inherently involves equal consideration of more than one point of view. By condemning this speaker\u2019s public appearance on our campus, your words and actions make clear you have no interest in balance at all,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThat is the biggest double standard of all. … It is not the condemnation itself that is concerning \u2014 that is absolutely their right, but it is the rush to do so without even considering other\u2019s perspectives that is so disheartening,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Undergraduate student government leaders routinely pass resolutions, most of which do not become news. One last year was in support of UCLA recognizing a National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Another called for more campus support for students who have children.<\/p>\n
The resolution on the hostage speaking event also drew an unusual formal response from the university itself.<\/p>\n
UCLA said that leaders \u201cwill review the process by which this letter was issued. The condemnation of such a peaceful event to share a story of resilience in the face of extreme suffering is antithetical to the values of our Bruin community.\u201d The Wednesday statement noted that UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk and his wife, UCLA professor Felicia Knaul, were in attendance and that the event took place \u201cwithout any disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
The matter has also divided members of the student government.<\/p>\n
In an interview, UC undergraduate student President Diego Bollo said the letter was released without his knowledge or input and that five members of the student government\u2019s 15-member council were not in attendance<\/a> at an April 14 meeting, including him, when it was unanimously approved. He said another officer added the item to the meeting agenda that day.<\/p>\n \u201cI deeply value free speech and free expression on our campus. I have worked throughout my term to ensure that the university supports all student groups in hosting speakers and a wide range of programming,\u201d Bollo said. \u201cFree speech is a principle I do not compromise on \u2014 regardless of the nature or subject of any given event.\u201d<\/p>\n Bollo said the letter \u201creflects a lapse in oversight on my part as president\u201d and said he is initiating a review of the student government\u2019s internal policies for drafting and releasing public statements.<\/p>\n The Times contacted several council members who voted for the letter and did not receive a reply.<\/p>\n Tov, 23, was taken by Hamas militants who attacked the Nova music festival in southern Israel. He was freed in a February 2025 prisoner exchange. In addition to Hillel, the event was sponsored by the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies.<\/p>\n Sures has also been targeted by pro-Palestinian student activists, who vandalized his home<\/a> last winter in a protest they said was against UC financial investments tied to Israel and its war in Gaza. Sures accused students of turning their focus on him because he is Jewish. The vandalism led to Frenk suspending<\/a> the official student group status of two Students for Justice in Palestine organizations.<\/p>\n The 2023 Israel-Hamas war has been at the center of ongoing activism and controversy at UCLA, including a pro-Palestinian encampment that grew in spring 2024 and was violently attacked<\/a> April 30 and May 1 of that year. <\/p>\n The Trump administration, in lawsuits against UC<\/a> and in letters to UCLA, has argued that those student activists were antisemitic. Last year, it used those arguments to rescind more than $500 million in research grants and demand a $1.2-billion fine from the university.<\/p>\n The grants were later restored by a federal court order and, in a separate case, the terms of the fine were blocked.<\/a> UC President James B. Milliken has said the university is open to talks with the Trump administration but will \u201cnever compromise\u201d on its independence, governance, values and academic freedom.<\/p>\n The university has also faced suits from pro-Israel Jewish students and faculty as well as pro-Palestinian students for how it has responded to protests related to Israel and Gaza.<\/p>\n