Hillel at UCLA Executive Director Dan Gold told the Journal in an April 26 phone interview that the Jewish students on campus “are definitely feeling the intensity of the situation” regarding the ongoing pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.
The encampment, which started on the morning of April 24 outside of Royce Hall in Royce Quad. The Daily Bruin estimated that 100 protesters slept overnight in the encampment, and that there were almost 300 protesters at the “height” of the event on April 24. The encampment protesters are refusing to leave until their demands are met, which include the university divesting from companies that conduct business with Israel. The Los Angeles Times quoted one graduate student, Marie Salem, “It’s about our community realizing that we no longer can go to a university that is complicit in genocide,” she said. “We no longer can go to a university that is invested in this genocide of the Gazans.”
The Jewish students at UCLA are “definitely feeling the intensity of the situation,” Gold told the Journal. “They don’t know what’s going to come next … So part of their anxiety and fear is about the uncertainty— as the encampment has grown to be quite big — and there has, even in these first few days, [been] not a lot of indication of what the university might do about it.”
Gold explained that the Jewish students have been troubled by “the messages that are attached to some of the signage, some of the things that have been written on chalk on the ground, the engagement that comes with any attempt to counterprotest or even to have dialogue.”
“The encampment’s not intended to be outwardly engaging others, but if our students want to express their opinion or hold an Israeli flag … they’re met with pretty intense countering,” he added.
According to the Bruin and the Times, there have been chants of “Free Palestine,” “from the river to the sea,” “intifada” and “Israel, Israel, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” from the encampment; counterprotesters have chanted “free the hostages” in response. The Bruin also reported that on April 25, a counterprotester holding a sign stating that “Israel is not apartheid” got into “a shoving match” with someone at the encampment who had sign stating that “Israeli BEYOND Horrified by Apartheid State.”
The Bruin reported that other counterprotesters shouted into a megaphone that the members of the encampment are “terrorists” and demanded that they “show your face.” The Times noted that counterprotesters chanted “rape is not resistance” and held a “No Mas Hamas” banner.
According to The Bruin, “a dozen” of the counterprotesters were “encircled by members of the encampment … Following aggressive interactions between encampment participants and counter-protesters, a pro-Palestine protester was carried away from Dickson Plaza with a heavily bandaged ankle.”
The Times described how the scene became “tense as pro-Palestinian protesters faced combative counterprotesters who breached the enclosed encampment and other demonstrators who chanted and danced by the camp’s boundaries.” By evening, The Times wrote, “metal barricades were set up around the encampment’s north side to protect both sides.”
Among the scenes from the encampment that have been posted to social media included pictures of Arabic words that were translated as “Oh Qassam, oh beloved, we want to burn Tel Aviv” allegedly written on the ground.
🚨UCLA pro-Hamas encampment by Royce Hall includes Arabic chalk graffiti that calls for extreme violence against Jews & Israel🚨
"Oh Qassam, oh beloved, we want to burn Tel Aviv"
FYI – @UCLAchancellor pic.twitter.com/hU61e9xMpL
— Sia Kordestani (@SiaKordestani) April 25, 2024
Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital’s seed/early team, posted on X that he went to the encampment for two hours and that “the level of hate and indoctrination is beyond what I can explain. One anecdote is protestors have been instructed ‘not to talk with Zionists.’” He shared a picture of an image from the encampment that 1948 was “Israel’s Birth Palestine’s Catastrophe” in which “over 700,000 Palestinians [were] driven out” and that there were “massacres at about 24 villages.”
I just spent two hours at the UCLA encampment
The level of hate and indoctrination is beyond what I can explain
One anecdote is protestors have been instructed “not to talk with Zionists”
Look at how they frame 1948 pic.twitter.com/bC4FhWjYyl
— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) April 26, 2024
Maguire also alleged that he spent “40 minutes talking with a *Jewish* incoming [M]iddle [E]astern [S]tudies professor. I knew more about this conflict’s history than he does. He has also never visited Israel. Scary.”
Most shocking (and depressing) is that I spent the last 40 minutes talking with a *Jewish* incoming middle eastern studies professor
I knew more about this conflict’s history than he does
He has also never visited Israel
Scary
— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) April 26, 2024
Gold claimed to have been “in direct contact” with the university about the encampment, and that the university has told him that “the encampment violates a long list of policies and rules of the university, and they’re trying to navigate from their end how to handle it.”
A video has also gone viral on social media in which a Jewish student holding an Israeli flag is arguing with a professor— who is seen yelling at the student — over whether or not Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip constitute genocide.
Jewish UCLA student maintains his composure in confrontation with hysterical professor.
West coast Jews are just so much cooler than the ones we’ve been seeing in New York. The Mediterranean climate appears to be good for them. Just like in Israel. pic.twitter.com/eHGfQNKEjR
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) April 26, 2024
There is also a video showing a counterprotester blowing a shofar.
Shofar Blast as counter protest against the Pro-Hamas encampments at @UCLA.
🥹💙🇮🇱💙🥹#AmYisraelChai pic.twitter.com/GUar9C5G4p
— The Persian Jewess (@persianjewess) April 26, 2024
In an April 25 article, The Bruin quoted a Jewish student, Lavie Levi, that he felt “very uncomfortable” about the encampment, claiming that there were signs from the encampment depicting a “red triangle” and “Gene Block with horns on his head” as being antisemitic. “I might skip my classes today and go home because of the clear signs of antisemitism that I see that are not being reprimanded on campus,” Levi told the paper.
By contrast another Jewish student, Emmett, told the Bruin that “unlike a lot of other Jewish students on this campus, I don’t believe that these people have any malice or hate for Jews” and that their messages simply called for peace.
Gold’s message to Jewish students on campus right now: “I understand that they’re feeling very uneasy, I understand they feel that this is just the next and latest and biggest way that this movement is trying to intimidate being Jewish on campus. They have a whole community behind them, our Hillel is there for them in any way they need … we’re trying to communicate to them that we are being their voice … with the administration. Like a lot of us, the students also understand that there should be more being done when these rules are clearly broken.”
“I understand that they’re feeling very uneasy, I understand they feel that this is just the next and latest and biggest way that this movement is trying to intimidate being Jewish on campus.” – Dan Gold, Hillel at UCLA
He stressed that “it’s not about free speech” as “free speech is not doing what’s being done in these encampments, in terms of the structures that are being built, in terms of the longevity of it, in terms of the camping out, in terms of the amount of space it’s taking up, in terms of the amplified sound … so the students are wondering too, why does this group, with all their long history of intimidation and hate, have such a long leash with these types of activities?”
Asked by the Journal to respond to Gold’s comments about the encampment violating university policy, the university pointed to a statement by UCLA Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications Mary Osako on April 26. “UCLA’s approach to the encampment is guided by several equally important principles: The need to support the safety and wellbeing of Bruins, the need to support the free expression rights of our community, and the need to minimize disruption to our teaching and learning mission,” Osako said. “These same long-standing principles have allowed UCLA to uphold a history of peaceful protest. It’s also important to note that we are following University of California systemwide policy guidance, which directs us not to request law enforcement involvement preemptively, and only if absolutely necessary to protect the physical safety of our campus community.”
She added: “We’ve taken several steps to help ensure people on campus know about the demonstration so they can avoid the area if they wish. This includes having student affairs representatives stationed near Royce quad to let Bruins and visitors know about the encampment, redirect them if desired and to serve as a resource for their needs.”
Kira Stein, founder and chair of the Jewish Faculty Resilience Group at UCLA, told the Journal in an email, “The encampment at Royce Quad is not only a disgrace to UCLA but also a stark contradiction to the principles of higher education, which champion inclusivity, respect, and fairness. This encampment, characterized by its antisemitic overtones and anarchistic behavior, undermines the safety and dignity of Jews on campus and tarnishes the integrity of the entire UCLA community.”
California Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood) said in a statement on April 25, “Today’s protest at UCLA included hateful antisemitic threats, calls for the violent destruction of Israel, and statements praising the leadership of Hamas — a terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians alike. I am appalled and disgusted by antisemitic and xenophobic chants, protesters telling Jews to go back to Europe, and the glorification of Hamas’s October 7 attack against Jews, Arabs and Americans in Israel. No one should have to endure hate on campus, and there is no place for this vile hate in Los Angeles.”
I stand firmly with Jewish students and their peers who had to endure antisemitic hate, the glorification of October 7, and calls for the destruction of Israel at @UCLA today. This hate has no place on campus or in Los Angeles. Read my full statement ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/7aZFKM1aEX
— Rick Chavez Zbur (@RickChavezZbur) April 25, 2024
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