NEW YORK (VINnews) — UCLA’s student government has sparked furious responses after issuing a controversial statement condemning an Israeli hostage speaking on campus, according to a New York Post report.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council claimed in a letter after the event that hosting Hamas torture survivor Omer Shem Tov “obscured the broader reality of ongoing state violence.”

UCLA was quick to slam the group’s comments and one member broke ranks to brand it “blatantly disrespectful” and revealed it was released without everyone present to vote on it. The council president also said he was not present when it was decided.

The college’s Hillel brought in the 23-year-old to discuss his harrowing 505 days in the tunnels under Gaza at the hands of the terrorists after he was abducted by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 massacre. He spoke at an event to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 14 which was attended by chancellor Julio Frenk and was widely celebrated by the university’s Jewish students.

But a week later the Undergraduate Students Association Council decided to respond with the pointed letter to UCLA Hillel and the college administration whining that a “single narrative was elevated.”

The group said: “While we affirm the humanity of all people impacted by violence, we reject the selective platforming of narratives that obscure the broader reality of ongoing state violence.

“Israel is currently continuing to carry out what has been widely identified by human rights advocates as a genocide in Gaza, while also expanding its illegal military campaign into Lebanon.

“In this context, elevating a single narrative, absent of critical political and humanitarian framing, serves to legitimize and normalize these ongoing atrocities.”

Its president Diego Bollo told The Post he was not present at the meeting, and that the councilmember who introduced the letter did so on a day when a councilmember who had promoted Omer’s event was not present to share her perspective and knowledge of the event. Bollo also said the letter was passed by a “bare majority.”

“I acknowledge that this reflects a lapse in oversight on my part as President, and I take responsibility for that institutional shortcoming. To address this issue, I am initiating a review immediately of our internal processes for drafting and releasing public statements,” Bollo told The Post.

“I 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. Free speech is a principle I do not compromise on — regardless of the nature or subject of any given event,” he added.

Talia Davood, who is Jewish and on the council, said: “What left me particularly speechless was the decision to bring this forward on the night of Yom HaShoah, a day dedicated to mourning the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

“Condemning Omer Shem Tov for sharing his lived experience… is not only inappropriate, but blatantly disrespectful.”

She noted that while the decision to condemn the event passed unanimously among those present, not all council members were in attendance.

UCLA’s Hillel was also outraged by the letter, with Director emeritus Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller branding it “completely ridiculous.”

He said: “You can’t present the narrative of your experience without it being called ‘one sided. There has to be a counter-story to persecution. Is there a counter-story to killing people?”

The Hillel added in a joint statement with Students Supporting Israel at UCLA: “Members of UCLA student government have once again shown they are anti-dialogue, anti-learning, anti-truth, anti-student, anti-Jewish and antisemitic in condemning our event.”