Campus Watch Nov. 24, 2022

Complaint Filed Against Berkeley Law Over Student Groups Barring Zionist Speakers

A legal complaint has been filed against UC Berkeley Law School over nine student groups barring Zionist speakers from coming to campus.

The complaint was filed by attorneys Gabriel Groisman and Arsen Ostrovsky, the latter the head of the International Legal Forum. The complaint, which was sent to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, alleged that Berkeley Law is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for failing to take action against the student groups.

“The groups that have implemented this discriminatory policy attempt to hide their discrimination against the Jewish community by excluding ‘Zionists,’” Groisman and Ostrovsky said in a statement. “This thin veil is completely transparent as Zionism is an integral, indispensable and core element of the Jewish identity. There can be no equivocation: anti-Zionism is antisemitism. And, by effectively saying ‘Zionists not welcome,’ these student groups – and by extension UC Berkeley Law School – are excluding, marginalizing and silencing Jews, and only exacerbating what is already a deeply hostile environment for Jewish students, faculty and staff.”

Antisemitic Assault at UMich

An antisemitic assault occurred at the University of Michigan on November 10.

WDIV-TV reported that the assault was reported to the police on November 12; the victim, an unidentified student at the university, alleged that a male student grabbed her arm and then lobbed antisemitic comments at her. The assailant is described as being a 5’10” white male with brown hair and was wearing a university baseball cap.

A friend of the victim’s told WDIV that the incident was “upsetting” to the victim but she’s trying to take it “in stride.” “Unfortunately things like this still happen here,” the friend said, saying that the victim has heard hateful comments on campus before.

Neo-Nazi Group Intimidates Harvard Students

Members of the neo-Nazi group National Social Club intimidated students at Harvard University on November 13, The Daily Mail and Harvard Crimson reported.

Video shows the neo-Nazis doing a Nazi salute in front of the campus Democracy Center, where an anarchist book fair was being held. They proceeded to bang on the windows of the building and lunge at people walking down the street. The members claimed they were “confronting Antifa.” 

“Antisemitism is alive and well, even in America’s college town,” Jewish on Campus tweeted.

Philly Hebrew Academy Evacuated Over Bomb Threat

Philadelphia’s Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy was evacuated due to a bomb threat on November 16.

The Forward reported that the school sent out an email to student that “college officials have been made aware of a terroristic threat” at the school and that they received “multiple concerning calls.” The Forward also noted that leading up to the November 8 election, Doug Mastriano, the GOP gubernatorial candidate in the state, had criticized the now-Governor-Elect Josh Shapiro, a Jewish Democrat, for sending his children to the “privileged elite” school because it showed that Shapiro is out of touch. It is unclear if the bomb threat was in any way related to Mastriano or Shapiro.

Neo-Nazi Flyers on SF High Schools’ Students Cars

Students at two San Francisco Bay Area high schools found antisemitic flyers from the neo-Nazi group Goyim Defense League (GDL) on their cars.

Stop Antisemitism tweeted on November 17 that the flyers claimed that Jews were behind gun control and “mass migration.” The targeted students belonged to Novato and San Mateo High Schools. “Children should not have to be subjected to the GDL’s ongoing hate campaign!” Stop Antisemitism wrote.

Boston University Prof Says “Israel and Judaism Are In No Way the Same Thing”

Boston University Professor Saida Grundy wrote in an Instagram comment that the Jewish religion and Israel are dissimilar.

Stop Antisemitism tweeted out a screenshot of the comment; Grundy wrote that calling criticism of Israel antisemitic is a “propagandist retort.” Her reasoning was that “Israel and Judaism are in no way the same thing” and “Palestinian and African Jews are second class citizens in the white nationalist apartheid state of Israel.” Grundy also claimed that Israel has been criticized by “millions of Jews” globally. “This is why Zionism is losing considerable traction amongst young Jews,” she wrote.

“Perhaps Grundy can take a few moments to actually read a few pages from any of our prayer books, she would clearly see there is no Judaism without Israel!” Stop Antisemitism tweeted on November 20. “Grundy also is ignorant to the actually demographics of Israel, unaware [that] the majority of Jews in the land are Sephardic and Mizrahi.”