Latest news with #Sures
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hollywood is shaken by Trump's tariff plan for the movie industry
Filmmakers and Hollywood financiers are baffled, to say the least, by President Trump's announcement that he wants a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the United States. Several movie studio and streaming industry executives who spoke with CNN are downright apoplectic because, they believe, the president hasn't thought about the ramifications of his proposal, which could decimate an iconic industry. 'On first blush, it's shocking and would represent a virtually complete halt of production,' one industry insider remarked. 'But in reality, he has no jurisdiction to do this and it's too complex to enforce.' Other sources are taking a more open-minded view, asserting that Trump is instigating a dialogue about a real issue — so-called 'runaway production' — that has left many Americans in the movie and TV production sector out of work. But the prospect of film levies has injected even more uncertainty into an already-unsettled business. Shares of Netflix and other major entertainment companies fell Monday as investors digested Trump's confusing comments. 'In its current form, the tariff doesn't make sense,' Jay Sures, vice chairman of United Talent Agency, told CNN. American actors and directors would generally prefer to work close to home. But 'the fact is it's cheaper for Hollywood studios to pay for everyone to get on planes, pay for hotels, because the cost of labor, lack of rebates, and the ability to make things overseas is infinitely cheaper,' Sures said. Sures noted that it can be significantly cheaper to make movies abroad, so a blanket tariff 'has the ability to bring the movie business to a standstill – which is the last thing Hollywood needs after dual strikes and a content recession.' Some of the industry sources who spoke with CNN doubt that any such tariff plan will actually be implemented. As intellectual property, movies are a form of services – not goods. Services are not ordinarily subject to tariffs, and it's unclear how Trump's tariffs on foreign movies would work. Furthermore, Trump's assertion that foreign film production constitutes a 'national security threat' may not withstand legal scrutiny. But entertainment industry leaders are taking the possibility seriously. Multiple executives have reached out to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about the tariff proposal, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. Lutnick on X responded to Trump's tariff demand Sunday night, saying, 'We're on it.' Trump's social media post may have been just an opening gambit. In the Oval Office Monday, Trump said he would hold meetings with Hollywood executives before making a final decision. 'We're going to meet with the industry; I want to make sure they're happy about it,' Trump said. The belief that Hollywood needs a boost crosses party lines. When Trump took office, he named Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone as his emissaries to Hollywood, though it was never particularly clear what that designation would mean. Trump met over the weekend with actor Jon Voight at Mar-a-Lago to discuss plans for reviving the American film industry, according to a person familiar with the matter. Voight had been been developing a plan along with his manager, Steven Paul, and the plan included ideas for tax incentives, but not specifically on new tariffs, the person said. On Monday a White House spokesperson, Kush Desai, said, 'while no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the Administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump's directive to safeguard our country's national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again.' The White House's reference to 'all options' may calm some nerves, since Hollywood lobbyists have been pushing for carrots (like a federal tax incentives for films) rather than sticks (like a tariff) for some time now. Movie and television production, once centered in and around Hollywood, has gravitated to other US states and increasingly to other countries owing to tax incentives and other financial calculations. A wide array of movies, from 'low-budget indies to studio blockbusters,' are 'currently being made in countries like the U.K., France, Germany, and Hungary,' the entertainment trade magazine Variety noted on Monday while conveying 'shock and disbelief across the European film industry.' Trump made the idea sound simple when he spoke with reporters at the White House Sunday night. 'Other nations have been stealing the movies, the moviemaking capabilities, from the United States,' he said, apparently referring to the growing number of movies that are produced in other countries like Canada. 'We should have a tariff on movies that come in,' Trump said, possibly referring to movies that are financed and distributed by American companies but filmed elsewhere. The Motion Picture Association of America, the organization representing major US studios, declined to comment on Trump's announcement. But the MPA released a report in 2023 showing the US film industry runs a $15.3 billion trade surplus with foreign markets, amounting to three times the value of films that are imported. However, it's not clear if the MPA included domestic films that were produced abroad. The questions about Trump's movie tariffs are voluminous. Will movies made by American companies but set in other countries – say, a World War II historical drama – be taxed for filming in the places where they're set? What about movies that are produced partly in the United States and partly in other places? Or, as Sures asked, 'if two minutes of the movie is shot overseas, does that deserve to be taxed?' Some of the industry executives wondered aloud if Trump's idea was about punishing Canada, where many films are now made due to tax incentives. One of the sources asked, speaking of left-leaning Hollywood, 'Is he trolling us because we didn't vote for him?' And one executive asked if Trump had any real sense of how modern TV and movie production works: 'Has anyone told him what this will do to James Bond, Harry Potter, Dune? Where are we supposed to shoot Emily in Paris?' CNN's Kate Irby contributed to this report.
CNN
05-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Hollywood is shaken by Trump's tariff plan for the movie industry
Source: CNN Filmmakers and Hollywood financiers are baffled, to say the least, by President Trump's announcement that he wants a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the United States. Several movie studio and streaming industry executives who spoke with CNN are downright apoplectic because, they believe, the president hasn't thought about the ramifications of his proposal, which could decimate an iconic industry. 'On first blush, it's shocking and would represent a virtually complete halt of production,' one industry insider remarked. 'But in reality, he has no jurisdiction to do this and it's too complex to enforce.' Other sources are taking a more open-minded view, asserting that Trump is instigating a dialogue about a real issue — so-called 'runaway production' — that has left many Americans in the movie and TV production sector out of work. But the prospect of film levies has injected even more uncertainty into an already-unsettled business. Shares of Netflix and other major entertainment companies fell Monday as investors digested Trump's confusing comments. 'In its current form, the tariff doesn't make sense,' Jay Sures, vice chairman of United Talent Agency, told CNN. American actors and directors would generally prefer to work close to home. But 'the fact is it's cheaper for Hollywood studios to pay for everyone to get on planes, pay for hotels, because the cost of labor, lack of rebates, and the ability to make things overseas is infinitely cheaper,' Sures said. Sures noted that it can be significantly cheaper to make movies abroad, so a blanket tariff 'has the ability to bring the movie business to a standstill – which is the last thing Hollywood needs after dual strikes and a content recession.' Some of the industry sources who spoke with CNN doubt that any such tariff plan will actually be implemented. As intellectual property, movies are a form of services – not goods. Services are not ordinarily subject to tariffs, and it's unclear how Trump's tariffs on foreign movies would work. Furthermore, Trump's assertion that foreign film production constitutes a 'national security threat' may not withstand legal scrutiny. But entertainment industry leaders are taking the possibility seriously. Multiple executives have reached out to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about the tariff proposal, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. Lutnick on X responded to Trump's tariff demand Sunday night, saying, 'We're on it.' Trump's social media post may have been just an opening gambit. In the Oval Office Monday, Trump said he would hold meetings with Hollywood executives before making a final decision. 'We're going to meet with the industry; I want to make sure they're happy about it,' Trump said. The belief that Hollywood needs a boost crosses party lines. When Trump took office, he named Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone as his emissaries to Hollywood, though it was never particularly clear what that designation would mean. Trump met over the weekend with actor Jon Voight at Mar-a-Lago to discuss plans for reviving the American film industry, according to a person familiar with the matter. Voight had been been developing a plan along with his manager, Steven Paul, and the plan included ideas for tax incentives, but not specifically on new tariffs, the person said. On Monday a White House spokesperson, Kush Desai, said, 'while no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the Administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump's directive to safeguard our country's national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again.' The White House's reference to 'all options' may calm some nerves, since Hollywood lobbyists have been pushing for carrots (like a federal tax incentives for films) rather than sticks (like a tariff) for some time now. Movie and television production, once centered in and around Hollywood, has gravitated to other US states and increasingly to other countries owing to tax incentives and other financial calculations. A wide array of movies, from 'low-budget indies to studio blockbusters,' are 'currently being made in countries like the U.K., France, Germany, and Hungary,' the entertainment trade magazine Variety noted on Monday while conveying 'shock and disbelief across the European film industry.' Trump made the idea sound simple when he spoke with reporters at the White House Sunday night. 'Other nations have been stealing the movies, the moviemaking capabilities, from the United States,' he said, apparently referring to the growing number of movies that are produced in other countries like Canada. 'We should have a tariff on movies that come in,' Trump said, possibly referring to movies that are financed and distributed by American companies but filmed elsewhere. The Motion Picture Association of America, the organization representing major US studios, declined to comment on Trump's announcement. But the MPA released a report in 2023 showing the US film industry runs a $15.3 billion trade surplus with foreign markets, amounting to three times the value of films that are imported. However, it's not clear if the MPA included domestic films that were produced abroad. The questions about Trump's movie tariffs are voluminous. Will movies made by American companies but set in other countries – say, a World War II historical drama – be taxed for filming in the places where they're set? What about movies that are produced partly in the United States and partly in other places? Or, as Sures asked, 'if two minutes of the movie is shot overseas, does that deserve to be taxed?' Some of the industry executives wondered aloud if Trump's idea was about punishing Canada, where many films are now made due to tax incentives. One of the sources asked, speaking of left-leaning Hollywood, 'Is he trolling us because we didn't vote for him?' And one executive asked if Trump had any real sense of how modern TV and movie production works: 'Has anyone told him what this will do to James Bond, Harry Potter, Dune? Where are we supposed to shoot Emily in Paris?' CNN's Kate Irby contributed to this report. See Full Web Article
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
UCLA suspends Students for Justice in Palestine after protest at UC regent's home
UCLA administrators said Wednesday said they were indefinitely suspending two Students for Justice in Palestine organizations after masked pro-Palestinian campus activists protested outside the Brentwood home of University of California Regent Jay Sures last week, vandalizing his property and surrounding his wife while she was in her car. Chancellor Julio Frenk said in a campuswide message the decision by the UCLA Office of Student Conduct was an interim suspension while internal judicial procedures over the groups — Students for Justice in Palestine and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine — took place. The organizations, which supported pro-Palestinian encampments last year, will no longer be able to reserve space for meetings on campus, apply for student club funding, or affiliate themselves with UCLA. Read more: UC Regent Jay Sures' Brentwood home vandalized in pro-Palestinian rally The conduct proceedings and suspensions have no end date. "Without the basic feeling of safety, humans cannot learn, teach, work and live — much less thrive and flourish," Frenk said in his letter. "This is true no matter what group you are a member of — or which identities you hold. There is no place for violence in our Bruin community." UCLA joins several other UCs and other campuses throughout the country that have banned or suspended SJP. At UC Santa Cruz, the organization is suspended until September 2026. At UC Irvine, a suspension is in place through November 2029. And at UC San Diego, SJP was charged last spring with activities "incompatible with the orderly operation of campus" and did not renew its campus group status in the fall. The UCLA suspensions come after UC adopted "zero-tolerance" polices for code of conduct violations following unrest during spring 2024 when campuses erupted in contentious protests — and violence targeted the UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment. The policy bans masking while breaking the law, including vandalism. UCLA's rules add that it can hold students accountable for off-campus behavior if university leaders believe students have acted violently or endorsed violence. While the LAPD is investigating potential crimes during the incident at Sures' home, UCLA is not pursuing campus charges against individual students related to the actions. In his letter, Frenk cited Instagram posts from the UCLA SJP groups advertising an early morning Feb. 5 protest outside the regent's home. Dozens of protesters — their faces concealed with scarves and masks — showed up with drums, fliers and signs demanding the UC system divest from Israel. The activists "harassed" Sures and used "threatening messages," Frenk said, and held a banner reading, "Jonathan Sures, you will pay until you see your final day.' Frenk also said protesters "vandalized the Sures home by applying red-colored handprints to the outer walls of the home and hung banners on the property's hedges." Sures, a UCLA alumnus and vice chairman at United Talent Agency, is one of 18 UC regents. An outspoken supporter of Israel, he called the actions of pro-Palestinian campus protesters antisemitic as encampments and conflicts with administrators and police escalated last year. In a Feb. 5 Instagram post, accounts for the SJP chapters group said Sures is "one of the unelected officials responsible for protecting UC investments in genocide and weapons manufacturing." The post includes a doctored image of Sures in a suit with fire burning behind him under a pro-Palestinian banner and his hands edited to appear bloody. In another post, the groups said, "Regents have repeatedly kicked us out of their meetings, canceled forums for public comment, and criminalized our attempts to protest investment policies. We have taken our issues straight to the Regents because they have systematically militarized our campus in response." In an interview, Sures said he believed students chose his home because he is Jewish. "This is not about me. I'm the target but this is about protecting every member of our community from intimidation and hate," Sures said. "The conceit that somehow you will intimidate me and the University of California will divest is silly and illogical. That's never going to happen." In response to encampments, UC leaders said last year that they would not divest from Israel. About 18% of the university system's $175 billion in assets are connected to weapons companies, investment funds with Israeli ties, corporations such as Disney targeted by pro-Palestinian activists or U.S. bonds. Graeme Blair, a member of UCLA's Faculty for Justice in Palestine, said the suspensions were part of a pattern of "violence against Arab, Muslim, Palestinian, and pro-Palestine students." "Just like in April, administrators today selectively deployed the charge of violence, not against those whose actions cause physical harm, but against those whose speech they dislike," said Blair, an associate professor of political science. "Chancellor Frenk and the UC regents' continuing complicity in genocide is violence. ... To call hanging banners on shrubs violence is a despicable distortion." The UCLA SJP groups posted brief statements on Instagram Wednesday. "Damn, that's crazy," said a post on the graduate student group's account under a copy of Frenk's letter. "Hey guys, @UCLA just 'interim suspended' our chapter," said the UCLA SJP account. "Stay tuned and turn on our story and post notifications to stay updated." An emoji of a Palestinian flag ended the post. Kira Stein, the chair of UCLA's Jewish Faculty Resilience Group, said "it was about time" for the suspensions after more than a year of complaints her group has raised about SJP. Stein, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, said SJP organizations have been "weaponizing political dissent to mask blatant antisemitism, using intimidation, harassment and inflammatory disinformation to divide and destabilize our campus. ... We have a long list of SJP violations of university rules and regulations that we have been sharing with the administration." In an interview, UC Regent Rich Leib, who has also spoken in favor of pro-Israel campus communities, said he was "very supportive" of suspension. "I strongly believe in peaceful protest but doing things at private residences and intimidating people is not a peaceful protest. What they did to Regent Sures' house and what they did to his family was way beyond a peaceful protest," Leib said. The union representing UC police hailed the suspension — and called on UCLA to "to demand prosecution" if protesters break the law. "Universities cannot allow lawlessness under the guise of activism. Only through full accountability will these students learn to confine their actions to those permitted by law and university policy," said the statement from Wade Stern, president of the Federated University Peace Officers Assn. Pro-Palestinian movements grew quickly on U.S. campuses after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Last spring, protesters erected encampments and demanded divestment. Actions at UCLA were among the largest in the nation. UCLA, in internal and external reviews, has been faulted for a failure to quickly coordinate a response with Los Angeles police and other law enforcement when vigilantes attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment there on April 30 and May 1. The university created a new campus safety office in response and, last month, said it hired former LAPD Cmdr. Steve Lurie to lead it. Lurie previously oversaw the department's West Bureau, which includes UCLA. The Westwood campus has increased restrictions on protests since fall — making the majority of public areas off-limits to demonstrations without permits — and upped the presence of campus security guards. Read more: UCLA students and faculty raise alarm on antisemitic and anti-Palestinian hate amid ongoing protests UCLA has also been embroiled in a host of lawsuits, investigations and strife over pro-Palestinian protests. In October, a group of pro-Palestinian UCLA students and faculty members filed a lawsuit in state court, alleging that the university violated their free speech rights when it cleared the spring encampment and wrongly subjected them to disciplinary measures over protesting. Earlier, a federal judge in a separate case ordered UCLA to ensure equal access to Jewish students, three of whom alleged that the university enabled encampment protesters to block Jews from parts of campus. Also in October, the UCLA Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias released a 93-page report on "broad-based perceptions of antisemitic and anti-Israeli bias on campus' since 2023. The UCLA Task Force on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab Racism has also published three reports since April detailing a campus that's "less safe than ever' for those groups and criticizing "increased harassment, violence, and targeting' of them. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
UCLA suspends Students for Justice in Palestine after protest at UC regent's home
UCLA administrators said Wednesday said they were indefinitely suspending two Students for Justice in Palestine organizations after masked pro-Palestinian campus activists protested outside the Brentwood home of University of California Regent Jay Sures last week, vandalizing his property and surrounding his wife while she was in her car. Chancellor Julio Frenk said in a campuswide message the decision by the UCLA Office of Student Conduct was an interim suspension while internal judicial procedures over the groups — Students for Justice in Palestine and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine — took place. The organizations, which supported pro-Palestinian encampments last year, will no longer be able to reserve space for meetings on campus, apply for student club funding, or affiliate themselves with UCLA. The conduct proceedings and suspensions have no end date. 'Without the basic feeling of safety, humans cannot learn, teach, work and live — much less thrive and flourish,' Frenk said in his letter. 'This is true no matter what group you are a member of — or which identities you hold. There is no place for violence in our Bruin community.' UCLA joins several other UCs and other campuses throughout the country that have banned or suspended SJP. At UC Santa Cruz, the organization is suspended until September 2026. At UC Irvine, a suspension is in place through November 2029. And at UC San Diego, SJP was charged last spring with activities 'incompatible with the orderly operation of campus' and did not renew its campus group status in the fall. The UCLA suspensions come after UC adopted 'zero-tolerance' polices for code of conduct violations following unrest during spring 2024 when campuses erupted in contentious protests — and violence targeted the UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment. The policy bans masking while breaking the law, including vandalism. UCLA's rules add that it can hold students accountable for off-campus behavior if university leaders believe students have acted violently or endorsed violence. While the LAPD is investigating potential crimes during the incident at Sures' home, UCLA is not pursuing campus charges against individual students related to the actions. In his letter, Frenk cited Instagram posts from the UCLA SJP groups advertising an early morning Feb. 5 protest outside the regent's home. Dozens of protesters — their faces concealed with scarves and masks — showed up with drums, fliers and signs demanding the UC system divest from Israel. The activists 'harassed' Sures and used 'threatening messages,' Frenk said, and held a banner reading, 'Jonathan Sures, you will pay until you see your final day.' Frenk also said protesters 'vandalized the Sures home by applying red-colored handprints to the outer walls of the home and hung banners on the property's hedges.' Sures, a UCLA alumnus and vice chairman at United Talent Agency, is one of 18 UC regents. An outspoken supporter of Israel, he called the actions of pro-Palestinian campus protesters antisemitic as encampments and conflicts with administrators and police escalated last year. In a Feb. 5 Instagram post, accounts for the SJP chapters group said Sures is 'one of the unelected officials responsible for protecting UC investments in genocide and weapons manufacturing.' The post includes a doctored image of Sures in a suit with fire burning behind him under a pro-Palestinian banner and his hands edited to appear bloody. In another post, the groups said, 'Regents have repeatedly kicked us out of their meetings, canceled forums for public comment, and criminalized our attempts to protest investment policies. We have taken our issues straight to the Regents because they have systematically militarized our campus in response.' In an interview, Sures said he believed students chose his home because he is Jewish. 'This is not about me. I'm the target but this is about protecting every member of our community from intimidation and hate,' Sures said. 'The conceit that somehow you will intimidate me and the University of California will divest is silly and illogical. That's never going to happen.' In response to encampments, UC leaders said last year that they would not divest from Israel. About 18% of the university system's $175 billion in assets are connected to weapons companies, investment funds with Israeli ties, corporations such as Disney targeted by pro-Palestinian activists or U.S. bonds. Graeme Blair, a member of UCLA's Faculty for Justice in Palestine, said the suspensions were part of a pattern of 'violence against Arab, Muslim, Palestinian, and pro-Palestine students.' 'Just like in April, administrators today selectively deployed the charge of violence, not against those whose actions cause physical harm, but against those whose speech they dislike,' said Blair, an associate professor of political science. 'Chancellor Frenk and the UC regents' continuing complicity in genocide is violence. ... To call hanging banners on shrubs violence is a despicable distortion.' The UCLA SJP groups posted brief statements on Instagram Wednesday. 'Damn, that's crazy,' said a post on the graduate student group's account under a copy of Frenk's letter. 'Hey guys, @UCLA just 'interim suspended' our chapter,' said the UCLA SJP account. 'Stay tuned and turn on our story and post notifications to stay updated.' An emoji of a Palestinian flag ended the post. Kira Stein, the chair of UCLA's Jewish Faculty Resilience Group, said 'it was about time' for the suspensions after more than a year of complaints her group has raised about SJP. Stein, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, said SJP organizations have been 'weaponizing political dissent to mask blatant antisemitism, using intimidation, harassment and inflammatory disinformation to divide and destabilize our campus. ... We have a long list of SJP violations of university rules and regulations that we have been sharing with the administration.' In an interview, UC Regent Rich Leib, who has also spoken in favor of pro-Israel campus communities, said he was 'very supportive' of suspension. 'I strongly believe in peaceful protest but doing things at private residences and intimidating people is not a peaceful protest. What they did to Regent Sures' house and what they did to his family was way beyond a peaceful protest,' Leib said. The union representing UC police said it supported the suspension — and called on UCLA to 'to demand prosecution' if protesters break the law. 'Universities cannot allow lawlessness under the guise of activism. Only through full accountability will these students learn to confine their actions to those permitted by law and university policy,' said the statement from Wade Stern, president of the Federated University Peace Officers Assn. Pro-Palestinian movements grew quickly on U.S. campuses after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Last spring, protesters erected encampments and demanded divestment. Actions at UCLA were among the largest in the nation. UCLA, in internal and external reviews, has been faulted for a failure to quickly coordinate a response with Los Angeles police and other law enforcement when vigilantes attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment there on April 30 and May 1. The university created a new campus safety office in response and, last month, said it hired former LAPD Cmdr. Steve Lurie to lead it. Lurie previously oversaw the department's West Bureau, which includes UCLA. The Westwood campus has increased restrictions on protests since fall — making the majority of public areas off-limits to demonstrations without permits — and upped the presence of campus security guards. UCLA has also been embroiled in a host of lawsuits, investigations and strife over pro-Palestinian protests. In October, a group of pro-Palestinian UCLA students and faculty members filed a lawsuit in state court, alleging that the university violated their free speech rights when it cleared the spring encampment and wrongly subjected them to disciplinary measures over protesting. Earlier, a federal judge in a separate case ordered UCLA to ensure equal access to Jewish students, three of whom alleged that the university enabled encampment protesters to block Jews from parts of campus. Also in October, the UCLA Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias released a 93-page report on 'broad-based perceptions of antisemitic and anti-Israeli bias on campus' since 2023. The UCLA Task Force on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab Racism has also published three reports since April detailing a campus that's 'less safe than ever' for those groups and criticizing 'increased harassment, violence, and targeting' of them.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Anti-Israel protesters swarm and vandalize home of Jewish media super agent, UC regent
Media super agent Jay Sures has slammed a group of anti-Israel protesters who vandalized his California home and surrounded his wife's car on Wednesday in what he said was a frightening ordeal for his family. Sures, the vice chair of United Talent Agency and University of California (UC) Board of Regents member, told Fox News Digital that the group swarmed the outside of his Brentwood home and plastered his garage doors with red handprints along with banners he said contained death threats. He and his wife were home at the time and when she tried to leave in her car, the group surrounded the vehicle, Sures recalled. "When my wife tried to leave our house, they surrounded her car for 15 minutes, she was absolutely terrified," said Sures, a staunch supporter of Israel who was influential in UC's decision to ban political statements from the university homepages of its departments. 'Surrogates' For Hamas: University Regent Slams 'Appalling' Letter From Ethnic Studies Faculty Sures' United Talent Agency represents many top on-air news personalities as well as big names in the world of entertainment like Heidi Klum, Ludacris and Seth Rogen, per the company's Instagram account. Read On The Fox News App Dozens of masked protesters descended on his family home at around 6:15 a.m. local time, banging drums and carrying a large banner reading, "Jonathan Sures you will pay until you see your final day." The protesters also strung yellow caution tape on the property's front garden hedge and stuck posters containing Sures' picture to his garage doors. Some of the posters read, "Diverse now, or you will pay" while another large banner they erected on his front garden hedge had "Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest" scribed across it. The term is a popular rallying cry for those who want companies and third-level institutions to stop doing business with the state of Israel. "It's disappointing that this hateful and antisemitic organization targeted me and my wife," said Sures, who is Jewish. "I am confident that LAPD and UCLA will find and prosecute those responsible for the vandalism and death threats and most importantly, those who surrounded my wife's car for 15 minutes and prevented her free movement." Sures told Deadline it was the first time protesters had protested at his home and said he thought they had crossed a line by targeting his home. Anti-israel Groups Spray-paint Columbia University Building, 'Cemented' Sewage System "It's one thing to peacefully protest, but to go to an administrator or a regent's house to violate the hundred-foot rule, which is what it is in Los Angeles, to disturb the entire neighborhood by pounding on drums, to surround my wife's car and prevent her from free movement, and to put up signs, threatening my family and my life and vandalize the house, that is a big escalation," he told the outlet. He told the outlet he believes he was targeted because of his support of Israel and defending Jewish students on campus. He has served on the Board of Regents since 2019 and his term is set to expire in 2032. The LAPD and UCLA PD officers responded to the scene, according to a police report cited by Deadline. No arrests were made. The Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA said on Instagram they organized the protest. "He has attempted to intimidate faculty and students who spoke out against the genocide in Gaza, but we refuse to stay silent," the group wrote. The protesters said in a statement that Sures was targeted for allegedly suppressing pro-Palestine speech and expression on campus. They said the regents have kicked them out of their meetings, canceled forums for public comment and "criminalized" attempts to protest investment policies. "We have taken our issues straight to the regents because they have systematically militarized our campus in response. Over the last eight months, Jay Sures has led the UC's efforts in suppressing pro-Palestine speech and expression on-campus, including through increased militarization and draconian time, place and manner (TPM) policies." In November 2023, Sures criticized a faculty council that defended Hamas' attack on Israel in a letter and demanded UC administrators stop calling the attacks "terrorism." The faculty council letter called on UC leadership to retract the "charges of terrorism, to uplift the Palestinian freedom struggle, and to stand against Israel's war crimes against and ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people." Stett Holbrook, a spokesperson for the university's president, condemned the protest. "Yesterday, the private residence of UC Regent Jay Sures was vandalized, and his family and neighbors were harassed," Holbrook told the Daily Bruin. "The University strongly supports freedom of speech and the rights of our community members to participate in nonviolent protests, and we condemn all crimes and harassment committed against members of our UC community."Original article source: Anti-Israel protesters swarm and vandalize home of Jewish media super agent, UC regent
