A UCLA sorority group called the Empowered Arab Sisterhood reportedly is under fire for scrubbing the state of Israel from maps it handed out to students.
The campus' pro-Israel group Bruins for Israel expressed concern over the maps in a statement on its website that was first reported by Truth Revolt:
On Tuesday May 21, at UCLA’s World In-Sight fair, a festival meant to expose UCLA students to the globe’s diverse cultures, the Empowered Arab Sisterhood (EAS) disseminated maps asking students to "Find All The Middle Eastern Countries" (see below). The EAS listed 17 countries among the list of Middle Eastern states to choose from (including Palestine) but conspicuously omitted the State of Israel. This glaring omission effectively eliminated the Jewish state from the Middle East. When confronted, EAS members chose to cross out "Middle Eastern" in the title and replace it with "Arab" instead (see below). BFI is concerned that, given the recent prevalence of anti-Zionist bigotry on campus, EAS’ initial erasing of Israel was deliberate.
The pro-Israel campus group condemned the maps and said that the Empowered Arab Sisterhood is undermining the "Jewish people’s right to self-determination and alienates Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus."
The group is demanding that the Empowered Arab Sisterhood issue an official apology.
"It is because such disinformation and hostility towards the Jewish and pro-Israel community have become so frequent at UCLA that we have put forth our statement asking the UCLA community to denounce anti-Zionist bigotry," the group stated. "By erasing Israel from the Middle East, EAS erased our families, our history, and our collective rights. By erasing the State of Israel but including Palestine, EAS’ omission also directly hinders efforts to reach peace based on a two state solution, a solution that BFI fully endorses."