The Empathy Gap

The tragedies of the summer of 2014 in Israel began with the abduction and murder of three Israeli children, Eyal, Gilad and Naftali. Though the vast majority of Jews across the world had no direct connection to the boys, we…

Activists are out of line #FromFergusonToPalestine

The past month has been challenging for both our UCLA community and our nation at large. On our campus, tensions flared between the pro-Israel and anti-Israel communities as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel surfaced at both the…

UAW 2865’s BDS resolution and graduate-level discrimination

The recent, controversial Undergraduate Student Association Council vote to divest from American companies that profit from alleged human rights violations in Israel’s West Bank raised tensions among undergraduates. It also inspired a great deal of Ha’Am coverage. While many undergrads…

The Pro-Israel response to BDS: appropriate, or not enough?

Did the pro-Israel and anti-BDS communities do all they could to mobilize support against the divestment bill?

Comic: “WTF”

This comic was a collaborative effort between Staff Artist Madison Worthington and Cruciverbalist Daniel Peikes. 

Don’t Call Me “Jewish”

There’s an old joke that less-affiliated Jews tell a lot. “I’m Jewish. Well, I’m Jewish.” This joke is supposed to be funny because, as the suffix ish denotes, they only share some characteristics of a Jew. But what exactly are…

Bringing down the ignorance

As a new student, the ongoing tradition of Students for Justice in Palestine’s mock Apartheid Wall installment on campus this Tuesday was my first experience with the organization’s activism. The Wall stated a number of non-contextualized facts regarding the Israel-Palestine…

The Temple Mount: conflict and future

Following this summer’s tragedy and controversy with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the recent closing and reopening of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem triggered an additionally sensitive dimension for Israel’s stability. On Wednesday, October 29, Rabbi Yehuda Glick, founder of the LIBA…

The Bruins’ lone soldier

Traveling far and wide from every corner of the world, Israeli “lone soldiers” risk their lives every day to protect a 10,782 square mile territory for their people; a territory less than 1/16th the size of California. Such a decision…

Running it into the ground: moderate musings on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict

It is natural that in times of war the voices of moderation are stifled. A threat to the health of the community awakens a deep internal defensive stance while the scrutiny of one’s peers only reinforces this attitude. For over…