Berkeley Jewish Students Walk Out of Student Gov Meeting as Protesters Chant ‘Free Palestine’

Several Jewish students at UC Berkeley walked out of a student government meeting Feb. 3 because pro-Palestinian students chanted “Free Palestine!” during the meeting.

The student-run Daily Californian reported that the chaos at the Associated Students of the University of California Senate’s (ASUC) University and External Committee meeting began when the committee considered a resolution condemning a Bears for Palestine (BFP) display on campus. The resolution accused the BFP display of glorifying “violent terrorists, including but not limited to Rasmea Odeh, Fatima Bernawi, and Leila Khaled.” Odeh, Bernawi and Khaled were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

“If Bears for Palestine refuses to significantly alter or abolish the display, the ASUC shall take further action to ensure Student Union spaces are not being used to glorify terrorism and the murder of innocent civilians,” the resolution states.

The Daily Californian described the meeting as “very tense, and members of the opposing opinions frequently exchanged verbal insults during the different speeches.” ASUC Senator Milton Zerman, the sponsor of the bill, called BFP “godless” and said that an opponent of the resolution objected to being filmed because she’s “scared to be on video supporting terrorism,” per the Californian. Pro-Palestinian protesters called supporters of the resolution “settler colonialists” as they spoke in favor of the resolution.

Berkeley’s Tikvah: Students for Israel wrote in a Feb. 4 Facebook post that pro-Palestinian protesters harassed and threatened Jewish students with violence throughout the meeting.

“One BFP member stepped into a student’s face and said ‘I’m going to kick your ass,’ while another Jewish student was chased out of the room by BFP members,” they wrote. “We, as a community, decided that enough was enough and that we were not going to sit idly by as our members were threatened and harassed, so we walked out.”

They added: “Physical threats against Jewish students will NEVER be tolerated at UC Berkeley. Jewish students should never feel threatened and should NEVER fear for their safety while on campus. This is truly an embarrassing moment for UC Berkeley.”

https://www.facebook.com/tikvah.berkeley/videos/190603668685279/

StandWithUs tweeted that the pro-Palestinian protesters also ripped up pictures of the two victims in a 1969 Jerusalem supermarket bombing; Odeh had confessed to being behind the bombing in 1980.

“Incidents like this make clear that the university must do much more to fight anti-Semitism, ensure a safe environment on campus and protect free speech,” they wrote.

Unacceptable hatred at UC Berkeley this week.

Incidents like this make clear that the university must do much more to fight antisemitism, ensure a safe environment on campus and protect free speech. pic.twitter.com/Bo7Wba5IC0

— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) February 6, 2020

Former Tikvah President Nathan Bentolila, who was at the meeting, told the Journal that pro-Palestinian students had called Jewish students “genocidal terrorists” and “white colonialists” during the meeting. He also said that opponents of the resolution kept calling Odeh, Khaled and Bernawi “freedom fighters” and wouldn’t acknowledge their terrorism.

There was a coalition of around 75 to 80 Jewish students in favor of the resolution who decided to walk out because they were perturbed that the pro-Palestinian students created such a hostile climate against them, Bentolila said.

“There were physical threats that were being made [against us] and they weren’t being addressed by the moderator or the administrator in the room, so we decided that it wasn’t a safe environment for Jewish students, so we decided to walk out,” Bentolila said, “and as we walked out, they immediately started to scream and to chant at our faces and continue with the name-calling and intimidation. It was absolutely chaotic.”

BFP wrote in a Feb. 4 Facebook post that their members were harassed and threatened during and after the meeting, including the use of racial slurs and calling their Jewish supporters “token Jews.”

“Yesterday was a win for us,” they wrote. “We had every marginalized group on campus standing with us. This, despite how terrifying it is to be a student at a public university that entertains such explicit fascism, makes us feel safer than anything. We now know that, no matter what is said or done to us, we will have all of you standing on our side.”

https://www.facebook.com/BearsforPalestine/posts/2400735786883728?__tn__=K-R

University Chancellor Carol Christ addressed what transpired at the student government meeting at the Feb. 5 ASUC Senate meeting, saying that she had heard that students of varying faiths and ethnicities felt uncomfortable due to “verbal assaults” levied at them.

“At the center of Monday’s meeting is a difficult challenge that we must acknowledge and continue to confront—the tension between Free Speech and our commitment to creating a campus environment where everyone must feel safe, respected, and welcome,” she said. “Students who support the Palestinian cause have a right to celebrate those they see as fighters for that cause, and their rights to express that support are fully protected by our country’s constitution. By the same token, Jewish students have a right to feel dismay and concern after seeing a poster they perceive as honoring those who killed, or attempted to kill, unarmed Jewish civilians.”

She added that the university is currently meeting with leaders from various groups on campus and is engaging in efforts to ameliorate the situation.

University Assistant Vice Chancellor of Executive Communications Dan Mogulof told the Journal in a phone interview, “What went down [at the Feb. 3 meeting] and how it was handled was unacceptable.” He also said that “there were deeply disturbing things that were said from all quarters.” 

The university is currently aiming to get students from both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict “to understand that civil discourse and debate is in their own interest and that they all share something in common, which is a desire to feel heard and safe and welcome and respected at this university,” Mogulof said.

The ASUC declined to provide an on-the-record comment to the Journal.