Anti-Israel protesters swarm and vandalize home of Jewish media super agent, UC regent
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
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Bloomberg
23 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Israel Eases Gaza Aid Curbs Amid International Outcry
Live on Bloomberg TV CC-Transcript 00:00A lot of international pressure had been building on Israel to do something about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Resume the passage of humanitarian aid. What do we know? What are the latest developments from the weekend in terms of what is being allowed in now? So, I mean, there does seem to be a change of policy there and we'll see how long it lasts, because as you know, we've been here several times before. So what we can see on the ground is air drops going in. And we know that Israel did some and then we had some coming in, I think from from Jordan as well, anyway. Yeah. And you have aid trucks coming in from both Egypt and Jordan. But I think all the aid groups unanimously are saying it's nowhere near enough. So definitely better than last week. But we're talking about a drop in the ocean relative to what's required. And remember, they're playing a lot of catch up here because you have this total blockade for a least two or three months. And it's been a trickle since then. But as you say, the international pressure, I think, has got to the point where it sort of becomes indefensible not to try and do something. Yeah. Is this going to have any bearings on the cease fire discussions which also collapsed towards the end of last week? I mean, to some extent, but I mean, in terms of the actual impacts on the cease fire and the terms and conditions that both sides want. I can't see a change of change there. And we keep coming up against again and again, you know, there's this sort of insurmountable clash, I would say, between what Hamas is asking for and what Israel is asking for. I don't see any change in that, at least at the moment. Yeah. Later today, the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is going to be meeting with President Trump to discuss trade deal, obviously, and amongst other things they're going to be talking about Gaza. The UK prime minister is also under a lot of pressure now because of President Macron's decision last week to recognise Palestinian statehood. Right. The UK have not said anything to that effect, but he has said that he wants to work with President Trump on pushing for a lasting ceasefire. How much leverage really does the UK Prime Minister have and also how much leverage in this instance does the U.S. have in terms of trying to procure that lasting ceasefire? Yeah, I mean, so starting with the UK on the U.S., I would say next to none, or at least I see no evidence whatsoever that there is any influence there. And that in terms of the sort of the second leg of that, which is the U.S. influence on Bibi, I mean, that waxes and wanes and it kind of depends on what's happening on the ground within Israel. And as you know, Netanyahu is in a more precarious position politically than he was, say, a couple of weeks ago. You know, he's lost his majority, obviously, in the Knesset. And to some extent, he will have to respond, I would suspect, with more thought to what's going on domestically than to the U.S. pressure. That's not to say he ignores what the U.S. is saying, but he's very sort of 5050 about whether he's going to respond in a positive way to what he's being asked to do. Yeah, And also, the U.S. seemed to be a little bit frustrated. And if you listen to the language that came out of Steve Wake of when those ceasefire discussions broke down, he said he doesn't think that Hamas are acting in good faith or in a cooperative manner. So even the U.S. are frustrated with how all this is going.


UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
Trump, Starmer to meet in Scotland to talk trade, Gaza
President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain at the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 27. The pair are to meet Monday at Trump's Scotland golf course where they are expected to talk trade and the war in Gaza. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI. | License Photo July 28 (UPI) -- U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on Monday when the Western leaders are expected to discuss cease-fire plans for the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Starmer is to travel to Trump's golf course in Turnberry where the American president on Sunday announced a new trade deal with the European Union. According to a statement from 10 Downing Street, Trump and Starmer are to have "wide-ranging" one-on-one talks, including on the implementation of the Economic Prosperity Deal that the pair signed on May 8 and which came into effect last month. Starmer is also expected to discuss with Trump "what more can be done to secure the cease-fire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long." Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has sought a cease-fire and hostage-release deal in the war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza between Iran-poxy militia Hamas and Israel, but has repeatedly been met with obstacles. On Thursday, Israel and the United States recalled their negotiators, ending talks with Hamas that had initially sparked optimism that a deal could be reached. The Trump administration has blamed Hamas for the breakdown, with Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, stating the Iran-backed militia's latest response "clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a cease-fire in Gaza." "It's a shame Hamas has acted in this selfish way," he said in a statement. The Trump-Starmer meeting comes amid a deteriorating situation in Gaza where aid agencies are warning of starvation. Israel has announced a so-called tactical pause to fighting in specific areas to allow the delivery of aid between the hours of 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., local time, on Sunday. The announcement came as the Middle Eastern country is coming under mounting international pressure over its war in Gaza and its restrictions on aid entering the territory. According to the Save the Children charity, 133 people, including 87 children, have already died from malnutrition and starvation. Britain is among 30 nations that are calling for the war in Gaza to end, describing Israel's aid delivery model as "dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity." "We condemn the drip-feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food," the nations said in the joint statement, which calls on Israel to lift the restrictions on the flow of aid. "The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law." Britain, France and Germany separately over the weekend issued a statement calling for Israel and Hamas to end the conflict "by reaching an immediate cease-fire." Trump and Starmer are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine. After the meeting, they will have a private engagement in Aberdeen, 10 Downing Street said. The meeting also comes ahead of Trump being received for a State Visit hosted by King Charles III at Windsor Castle from Sept. 17 to 19. It will be Trump's second State Visit after a previous trip in 2019 where he was hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
Mark Cuban said the Trump administration needs to crack down on ads in AI models
"Shark Tank" star Mark Cuban said on Saturday that the White House should "make it illegal for AI models to offer advertising." Cuban said in an X post addressed to David Sacks, the White House's AI and crypto czar, that the administration should "examine referral fees as well." "The last thing we need is to have algorithms designed to maximize revenue driving LLM output and interactions," Cuban wrote. "They are already recommending brands and we don't know if they are getting paid for it. We need to have learned our lessons from algos in social media," he added. Cuban said in a subsequent post on Saturday that he would be willing to accept advertising on AI models if they are "identified as an ad" and kept "completely independent from the user generated chats." Cuban's proposal comes just days after the Trump administration unveiled its 28-page " AI Action Plan" on Wednesday. Back in January, President Donald Trump had signed an executive order calling for "existing AI policies and directives that act as barriers to American AI innovation" to be revoked. Trump has adopted a relatively light-touch approach toward AI regulation compared to his predecessor, President Joe Biden. In October 2023, Biden signed an executive order demanding greater transparency from companies developing AI tools. Trump's new "AI Action Plan" proposed withholding federal funding from states that want to impose "burdensome" AI regulations. Cuban and the White House did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. Social-media déjà vu Cuban's worries may not be unfounded. Major AI players such as have been deepening their leadership bench with former executives from social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. In May, OpenAI chief Sam Altman said he had hired Fidji Simo, the CEO and chair of Instacart, to serve as OpenAI's new CEO of applications. Before she joined Instacart, Simo worked at Meta, where she oversaw Facebook's app and advertising products. Last year, OpenAI hired Kevin Weil as its chief product officer. Weil was previously vice president of product at Instagram and senior vice president of product at Twitter. OpenAI's rival, Anthropic, made a similar move in May 2024 when it hired Mike Krieger, cofounder and former CTO of Instagram, as its chief product officer. Cuban has long warned about the risks and dangers that could come with AI tools like chatbots. He told comedian Jon Stewart in a podcast interview that aired in 2023 that online misinformation "is only going to get worse" with the proliferation of AI tools. "Once these things start taking on a life of their own, it will be difficult for us to define why and how the machine makes the decisions it makes, and who controls the machine," Cuban said. Last week, Cuban wrote in an X post that he expects AI companies to hoard talent and intellectual property to stay ahead of their competitors. "If you create valuable IP, encrypt and silo it. Let companies bid on it. Or just use it for your own behind a paywall model. IP is KING in an AI world," Cuban wrote on July 20.