The ZOA has a demonstrated record of making false and legally baseless accusations to censor support for Palestinian rights. For example:
• The ZOA along with other Israel advocacy organizations pressured University of California (UC) Berkeley in 2016 to censor a student-led course called “Palestine: a Settler Colonial Inquiry.” In response, the administration suspended the class in the middle of the fall semester. The class was reinstated after an outcry from faculty, students and civil rights organizations who expressed shock at the blatant the First Amendment and academic freedom violations. 14
• The ZOA made false allegations of antisemitism against the group Students for Justice Palestine (SJP) and called for the group to be banned from all City University of New York (CUNY) campuses.15 ZOA’s allegations against SJP were found to be unsubstantiated in a six-month investigation conducted by an independent task force, led by a former federal judge. 16
• ZOA filed baseless complaints with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against UC Irvine and Rutgers University. The complaints alleged that advocacy for Palestinian rights caused a hostile environment for Jewish students. OCR dismissed both complaints in 2013 and 2014, noting that ZOA alleged facts which could not be corroborated, and concluding that the alleged discrimination involved disagreements “based on students’ political views,” not antisemitism. 17
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