Israel rabble-rousers targeted the home of a major agent who represents on-air talent like Ryan Seacrest and David Muir — covering his garage in red handprints and littering his front yard with caution tape Wednesday, according to reports.
Jay Sures, who is a University of California Board regent, faced the wrath of masked student-protesters who assailed him for his staunch support for Israel – even as the Jewish state and Hamas terrorists are in the midst of a cease-fire.
About 50 protesters blocked the Brentwood street where Sures lives while banging drums and causing a ruckus around 6:15 a.m., according to an LAPD report cited by Deadline. On top of the bloody handprints, flyers were plastered on the door to his home, according to the report.
Authorities eventually dispersed the group, and no arrests were made on the scene.
Sures told the Daily Beast the demonstrators “scared the living sh-t” out of his wife and added that “threatening my family is so disappointing.”
He told Deadline he believes he was singled out by the protesters because he’s Jewish.
“I’ve been pretty outspoken about the cause, about protecting our Jewish students, and they don’t like it,” he said.
“So they do this to try to intimidate you, so you back off them. It’s all intimidation.”
The group that organized the unnerving protest, Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA, said in a social media post it went after Sures because he backs Israel.
“He has attempted to intimidate faculty and students who spoke out against the genocide in Gaza, but we refuse to stay silent,” the group claimed.
Sures spoke out in 2023 after the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty criticized a UC statement that condemned the Oct. 7 terror attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and sparked a wider conflict.
He argued the letter from some faculty “perpetuates hate and discrimination” while stating the school’s letter was “absolutely justified and necessary because terrorism has no place in our world,” according to a Hollywood Reporter article from the time.
The Board of Regents also signed off on prohibiting political statements from the school homepages – a measure that Sures was supportive of, according to Deadline.
Sures is a managing director at United Talent Agency and was first appointed to the university regents board in 2019 by then-governor Jerry Brown and then reappointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
His agency has represented other top broadcast talents, such as CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper, ABC News’ Norah O’Donnell, and Fox News’ Bret Baier.
The vandalism against Sures was widely criticized.
“Once again, a public servant is targeted for harassment and intimidation, and once again, it is a Jewish regent being targeted,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement online.
“Protestors calling for the elimination of the state of Israel in front of the home of UC Regent Jay Sures is unacceptable.”
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