Alicia Verdugo
Overview
On June 23 2024, Alicia Verdugo responded to the pro-Hamas riot outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles by promoting yet more violence. Her post talked of a "cold civil war" and included an appeal to followers to fight "by any means necessary". This followed Verdugo's May 2024 call for Israel’s destruction while as a student government officer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).On April 29, 2024, during Verdugo’s tenure as USAC’s cultural affairs commissioner, Verdugo’s office postponed a concert in order to encourage students to attend the university’s unlawful anti-Israel protest encampment instead. On May 13, 2024, the CAC announced [slide 1] that it was canceling its events for the rest of the academic year “due to the violent attacks occurring in Palestine…”
Verdugo also sponsored a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) resolution that the USAC passed by a vote of 10-3 on February 20, 2024.
Promoting Violence
On June 23, 2024, following the pro-Hamas riot at a local synagogue that day, Verdugo’s group CAC reportedly shared on its Instagram Stories a post that stated: “Think about what happened today in Los Angeles...We are in a cold civil war that is heating up rapidly. Prepare accordingly. Take a stop the bleed class. Learn how to use weapons safely. Save up for bullet proof armor. The genocide is not far away. It’s here. The heart of the empire is here. It’s our duty to fight and stop it by any means necessary.”On June 23, 2024, a violent riot broke out outside the Adas Torah synagogue in a densely populated Jewish area in Los Angeles, California. The riot began as a protest organized by anti-Israel agitators in response to a sale of “housing projects in all the best [English-speaking] neighborhoods in Israel.” During the protest, anti-Israel activists blocked [00:00:11] access to the synagogue and, later in the day, harassed Jewish residents in their neighborhood.
On October 10, 2023, three days after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, Verdugo said [00:14:03] at a USAC meeting that the attacks were an “unprecedented, historic moment for the Palestinians of Gaza.”
On October 9, 2023, during Verdugo’s tenure as CAC commissioner, the group published a statement on Instagram titled: “The Cultural Affairs Commission of UCLA stands in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle for liberation from Israel.” The statement was signed [slide 2]: “Alicia Verdugo, Cultural Affairs Commissioner.”
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.
Calling for Israel's Destruction
In a video published on May 1, 2024, Verdugo called [00:00:11] for Israel’s destruction during an interview as UCLA’s “encampment media liaison.”When a reporter accused Verdugo of promoting the “destruction of Israel,” Verdugo replied [00:00:12]: “Yes! Because the destruction of Israel will put an end to the siege on Gaza and an end to the occupation!”
The United Nations approved [pp. 39–41] the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza in 2011 as a security measure to stop Hamas from acquiring sophisticated rockets. Multiple flotillas have attempted to breach the blockade, with at least one flotilla initiating a violent confrontation with Israeli forces.
BDS
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true.
One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”
Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”
In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”
The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.
BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.
Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.
BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.
Social Media and Weblinks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aciliia/ [Private]Instagram 2: https://www.instagram.com/jardindalis/
- Status:
- Unknown
- University:
- UCLA
- Organizations:
- BDS
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
Videos
Photos & Screenshots
