UC Regent Jay Sures’ Brentwood home vandalized in pro-Palestinian rally

Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside the Brentwood home of UC Regent Jonathan “Jay” Sures on Wednesday morning, hanging banners on his hedges and leaving handprints smeared in red on his walls, according to local reports and photos shared on social media. The student group shared video of the protest on its Instagram account as well as a post of Sures’ face, calling him an “opp,” slang for an enemy, and “one of the unelected officials responsible for protecting UC investments in genocide and weapons manufacturing.” L.A. police responded to a call regarding pro-Palestinian protesters on a residential street in Brentwood around 6:15 a.m. Wednesday, according to an LAPD spokesperson. A spokesperson for the UC system said the university is supporting law enforcement’s investigation after Sures’ home was vandalized “and his familiy and neighbors were harassed.” “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,” said the spokesperson in a statement. “Protestors calling for the elimination of the state of Israel in front of the home of UC Regent Jay Sures is unacceptable.” Sures is the vice chairman of United Talent Agency and one of the 18 members appointed to the University of California Board of Regents by the governor. The faculty council wrote that UCLA’s administrative communications “distort and misrepresent the unfolding genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and thereby contribute to the racist and dehumanizing erasure of Palestinian daily reality.” In response, Sures wrote that the letter was “rife with falsehoods about Israel and seeks to legitimize and defend the horrific savagery of the Hamas massacre of October 7.” On Wednesday, Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine wrote on Instagram that Sures is “the embodiment of how the Regents profit off genocide and police dissent on our campuses.” Members of the student group have long demanded that the regents support their call for the university system to boycott and divest from all companies that do business with Israel — a demand the UC system opposes.