Eli Tsives A Jewish student wearing a Star of David necklace was on his way to class when he encountered a group of students wearing face masks and keffiyehs. Without a word, they formed a blockade, obstructing his path. Retrieving his UCLA student ID, he politely requested that they let him through, a request which was refused. He then asked his friend to start recording the encounter. “I’m a UCLA student, I deserve to be here, I pay tuition,” he said.
He took to Instagram, sharing the incident, which quickly went viral. Overnight, Eli Tsives, a 19-year-old majoring in film and theater, found himself thrust into the spotlight, inundated with interview requests. As Tsives follower count soared from 1000 to over 20k, he found himself not only grappling with newfound fame but also the accompanying challenges.
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“I used to feel safe but just yesterday I came back to my dorm room and somebody wrote: “Shame on you,” so people know where I live now and now my mother and other people are helping me get private security,” he told the Journal.
This statement isn’t an exaggeration of the situation — as pro-Palestinian demonstrations escalated in the past week, turning violent. Professor Nir Hoftman, who has taught at UCLA for 22 years, was assaulted earlier this week while walking on campus looking down on his phone. In an interview with Fox News, he described what had happened: “They literally assaulted me on the way over here. I was walking to give the interview to a news station and two or three thugs tried to block my approach to the open area. I ignored them and one of them stood in front of me and said, ‘you can’t walk this way.”
Hoftman said that another person tackled him from the side and ripped his earbud from his ear before running off. “The security people who were there, were watching, not doing anything.”
The professor called what’s going on today in UCLA as “anarchy, it’s like the wild, wild west.”
Tsives is deeply concerned about the escalating situation. While he doesn’t regret enrolling in UCLA, he voices apprehension about potential threats to his safety. “Someone will try something,” he said, emphasizing the dangerous ideologies promoted by pro-Palestinian groups. “These people advocate for the destruction of our beautiful country. They are not only against Israel but also against the United States, they are promoting hate. Shame on UCLA for allowing them to do what they are doing.”
Despite lodging a complaint with administration, Tsives has yet to receive a response. Although the office of student affairs assured him that they are monitoring the situation, Tsives remains dissatisfied. “They said that they do not have any plans to remove the peaceful protesters,” he said. “I have a very simple response to that: Shame on them. These are not peaceful protesters. They are breaking the law, calling for intifadas, which entail the genocide of Jews. The administration is well within their legal right to call upon UCPD [University of California Police Department] or LAPD to come and remove and arrest all the protestors. The fact that they are not doing it shows how scared they are of the mob.”
Last Sunday, when several hundred Pro-Israel demonstrators arrived at the campus brandishing Israeli and American flags to express solidarity with Jewish students, a brawl erupted among the crowd. A 20-year-old girl was viciously attacked, resulting in a head injury and bleeding.
Ruth Sonbolian, the mother of the victim, recounted the harrowing incident: “My younger daughter dropped her flag, and once they noticed it, they swarmed into our section and began stomping on it. When my older daughter Elinor bent down to retrieve it, they started kicking the flag and her head.”
Sonbolian rushed to her daughter’s aid but was forcefully pushed back. “I fell to the ground and witnessed my daughter being thrown into the air and crashing onto the asphalt. My son helped her up. She briefly lost consciousness. We called the police and an ambulance, but they refused to come.”
Sonbolian explained that the LAPD informed her they were unable to enter the campus and instructed her to transport her daughter outside for assistance. “With the help of Hatzalah, we took her out, and she was admitted to the emergency room at UCLA. She couldn’t sleep all night due to pain and trauma. When I questioned the LAPD about their inaction, they callously stated that they didn’t want to provoke riots or violence in the town. They seemed indifferent to the potential loss of Jewish lives in the process.”
“If it were a KKK encampment, it would have been shut down immediately, but we are allowing these students to spread hate,” Tsives said. “Gene Block, the Jewish Chancellor, should be ashamed of himself. He’s hiding behind the protection of his office.”
“If it were a KKK encampment, it would have been shut down immediately, but we are allowing these students to spread hate … Gene Block, the Jewish Chancellor, should be ashamed of himself. He’s hiding behind the protection of his office.”- Eli Tsives
UCLA’s campus now resembles a homeless encampment, with numerous tents and graffiti adorning walls, stairs, and pavements, bearing messages such as “Free Palestine,” “Free Gaza,” and “Zionism is Nazism.”
“They’ve defaced our beautiful buildings within the encampment,” Tsives said. “Using chalk, they’ve drawn Stars of David on the ground, accompanied by the directive ‘Step here,’ encouraging students to trample upon them. Many Jewish students feel profoundly unsafe.”
“It’s disgraceful what’s unfolding at UCLA. The administration must swiftly dismantle all encampments and suspend these students. Since last Thursday, they’ve been violating both UCLA’s code of conduct and the law. They have no legal permit for their encampments,” said Tsives.
Professor Judea Pearl who has been teaching at UCLA since the ‘60s, thinks one of the reasons universities, including UCLA, tolerate such occurrences is due to the substantial funds they receive from Qatar. “They are providing millions in tuition and scholarships, and universities understand that if they speak out against something Qatar disagrees with, the funding may be withdrawn and redirected to another institution that aligns with Qatar’s agenda,” he explains. “Qatar can easily divert the hundreds of students they financially support to another university. By funding their education, Qatar knows it can influence them to participate in demonstrations.”
Tsives still needs to work with his fellow students in his acting classes. Some of them arrive wearing keffiyehs and obviously don’t support his advocacy. He understands that he may face another three years of potentially unpleasant experiences at school, but he remains resolute in his decision to speak out.
“I do not regret a single second of it,” he said. “The Jewish people, especially Jewish students, need a voice. They need someone to demonstrate that there’s no reason to fear these bullies, that we cannot yield to their intimidation. This is my voice, and if my face becomes the face of that voice, so be it. I view this as a blessing in disguise. I have people walking up to me and thanking me saying that my courage encouraging them to also be courageous and speak up.
“My goal is to show Jewish students there is no need to be afraid of them and I hope to see the day when all of Jewish students will be able to walk in campus with their star of David out.”
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