Lawyers Claim UCLA Admitted in Court They Erected Anti-Israel Encampment Barriers

The law firm representing the three Jewish students suing UCLA over the university’s handling of the anti-Israel encampment in the spring, claimed the university “has now admitted to the court that UCLA itself set up barricades reinforcing the encampment.”

As previously reported by The Journal, the three Jewish students requested that the court to issue a court order to protect their safety on campus and require the university “to obey the Constitution and federal civil rights laws by August 15.” According to a July 15 press release from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the university responded in court by “disavowing any obligation to protect its Jewish students, and claimed — despite the numerous encampments that have continued to mar the face of UCLA’s campus — that the students have nothing to fear when classes begin again. In response, the students pointed out to the court that the May encampment was hardly an isolated incident. Rather, it merely exemplified the unchecked antisemitism that ran rampant both before and after those appalling events took place.”

The press release claimed that “that UCLA has now admitted to the court that UCLA itself set up barricades reinforcing the encampment and follows a policy prohibiting calling the police ‘preemptively,’ it could not be clearer that ‘[w]hen activists discriminate against and threaten Jews, UCLA protects the activists, not their Jewish victims.’”

Becket President Mark Rienzi said in a statement, “UCLA’s attempt to dodge responsibility for the ongoing antisemitism on its campus is transparent and shameful. No one is fooled — UCLA alone bears the blame for allowing and assisting mobs of masked antisemites who threaten, assault, and segregate Jewish students.” He added that “Universities that abandon their duty to protect students from vicious targeting must face the consequences. The court should hold UCLA accountable for its discriminatory behavior and ensure the safety of Jewish students before the start of the fall semester.”

The university did not immediately respond to The Journal’s request for comment.

The three students who filed the lawsuit against UCLA are Yitzchok Frankel, Joshua Ghayoum and Eden Shemuelian. As previously reported by The Journal, Frankel, a law student and Orthodox Jew, alleged in the lawsuit that he and other students holding a peaceful pro-Israel rally nearby the encampment and were surrounded and target by anti-Israel protesters. Ghayoum alleged that he was blocked by members of the encampment from crossing through Royce Quad  to meet a friend of his at Ackerman Union and that he missed four days of class because he felt unsafe on campus as a result of the encampment. Shemuelian, a law student and observant Jew, alleged that because she was forced to park near the encampment to go to class due to parking restrictions, she was forced to hear “antisemitic chants” and see “antisemitic signs” from the encampment and that her request for her to take her final exam off-campus due to safety concerns were ignored. Shemuelian also alleged that when she and other Jewish students were observing the encampment, numerous security members mocked them.

UPDATE: The university said in a statement to The Journal, “UCLA remains committed to supporting the safety and wellbeing of the entire Bruin community. We will respond to the allegations made in this filing in court and will not comment on this ongoing litigation.”