A letter signed by nearly 300 UCLA faculty members urges the university to denounce the various anti-Israel rallies that have occurred on campus since October 7.
The letter begins by detailing the atrocities perpetuated by Hamas against Israelis on October 7. “As a result of the massacre performed by Hamas, a quarter of the bodies of Israeli civilians still, three weeks after the terror attack, cannot be identified; babies were beheaded; entire families were tortured and then executed; women were abused and their mistreated naked bodies were paraded; entire villages were completely wiped out, and the Hamas terrorists massacred and slaughtered 260 innocent youth from many nationalities at a music festival,” the letter stated. “The terrorists took more than 220 hostages back to Gaza, mostly children, women and elderly. “
The faculty added: “While we all have our different political views on the Israeli-Palestinian situation, the October 7 slaughter should be condemned irrespective of political views. UCLA leadership must make the strongest possible statements condemning the barbaric Hamas attacks. There is no room for moral equivalence. There is no room for ‘both-sideism.’ There is no room for ambiguity.”
The letter noted that the signatories were “horrified to see Pro-Palestinian rallies on campus in which the massacres by Hamas were celebrated, including explicit calls for violence (including chanting ‘Intifada’ or event advertisements featuring images of weapons/violence). Such celebrations create an atmosphere of fear; one cannot imagine that UCLA will allow for celebrations of the killing of George Floyd, or for celebrations of the Armenian genocide, or the celebrations of the 9/11 attacks.” “It is inconceivable why such celebrations are not denounced by the UCLA leadership, regardless of political views,” the letter continued. “The atmosphere on campus results in Jewish students, staff, and faculty who are afraid to be on campus, show solidarity with Israel, or practice their freedom of religion in public.”
They concluded their letter by calling on the university to “denounce in the strongest possible terms any celebrations of Hamas terror attacks and killings” and to “take firm steps (including a public statement) to denounce any campus rallies crossing the line from speech to incitement, such as those rallies where speakers call for violence and spilling blood.” They also urged the university to “hold student groups and UCLA community members accountable who directly participate in such incitement.” Additionally, the faculty lobbied the university to designate “Hamas as a terrorist organization.”
Judea Pearl, chancellor professor of computer science at UCLA, National Academy of Sciences member and Daniel Pearl Foundation president, shared with the Journal an email to Chancellor Gene Block asking that the university not use “the First Amendment as a crutch,” as “the 16 Law Professors who signed the letter know something about the First Amendment, and have assured us that our requests are totally orthogonal to this diversion.”
A university spokesperson told the Journal that the chancellor is currently working on a response to the faculty letter.
One pro-Palestinian protest that occurred at UCLA on October 12 featured chants of “Intifada intifada,” “Free Palestine,” “hey hey ho ho the occupation has got to go” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
More recently, a video has gone viral on social media of pro-Palestinian protesters on campus beating a pinata of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a stick, and then one protester punching it and breaking it with his knees.
I am horrified. This was @ucla today. This is indefensible.
They will start with punching piñatas and end with punching Jews. pic.twitter.com/HjfehbFhwA
— AYM Higher (@AYM_Higher_) November 9, 2023
This is a developing story.
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