Federal Judge Rules UCLA Jewish Students Discrimination Claims Against Pro-Hamas Groups to Proceed

The Brandeis Center lawsuit against the organizations that conspired to engineer the pro-Hamas UCLA encampments that terrorized Jewish students scored a big victory recently when a federal judge allowed claims against two of the groups to proceed.

United States District Court for the Central District of California Judge Mark Scarsi ruled on January 20 that he was satisfied “Plaintiffs have pleaded sufficient facts to raise an inference that [National Students for Justice in Palestine] and [People’s City Council] acted with the requisite discriminatory animus” to establish plausible claims of discrimination and conspiracy.

Scarsi wrote that, “Based on the totality of their allegations, Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that NSJP and PCC acted at least in part to deprive Plaintiffs of their Thirteenth Amendment rights to be free from race-based violence and exclusion. “

He said both groups had organizers at the encampments sowing chaos.

“That there were numerous incidents of violence and exclusion directed at Jews, that the encampment and surrounding areas were covered with antisemitic images and slogans, that organizers targeted buildings named after Jews when they tried to establish a new encampment, and that PCC and NSJP had organizers on the ground helping to lead the encampment, are all circumstantial allegations that raise an inference PCC and NSJP acted with a discriminatory animus toward Jews. “

National Students for Justice in Palestine is the organization behind the marauding pro-Hamas protests that engulfed campuses nationwide in 2024. The People’s City Council is a Los Angeles-based far left activist organization.

In his ruling, Scarsi also brushed aside claims by People’s City Council that their activities supporting the encampment were protected by the First Amendment.

“Plaintiffs do not seek to hold PCC liable for protected speech or protest activities directly; instead, the complaint alleges that PCC conspired to deprive Plaintiffs of their Thirteenth Amendment rights to be free from racial violence and race-based exclusion from public accommodations.  Conspiring to deprive Jews of their Thirteenth Amendment rights is not a protected activity under the First Amendment.”

Unlike most other campus anti-Semitism lawsuits that aimed to hold schools responsible for protests, this lawsuit took a different tack by targeting the organizations behind the protests.

The litigation upends the media narrative that the protests were just organic efforts by altruistic students.

As Brandeis Center lawyer Omer Wiczyk told the California Globe shortly after it was filed last year, “We are trying to ensure that the conspiracy is revealed for what it is and to magnify a serious problem that far too many people are unaware of.”

In a telephone interview last week, Wiczyk said the judge’s ruling was an important victory.

“We are trying to hold NSJP and PCC liable for their role in establishing the anti-Semitic encampment. We are gratified that the court recognized the gravity of the case and the strength of our factual and legal arguments.”

“It is being argued by many that SJP is a grassroots movement.  But this encampment did not happen out of nowhere. [It] was planned, coordinated and  paid for by these organizations with the intent to deny jewish people” of their civil rights.

The lawsuit was filed on April 25, 2025 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

The plaintiffs are four members of the UCLA Jewish community that were denied access to parts of campus by the encampment members.  One of the plaintiffs, UCLA medical school professor Nir Hoftman was even assaulted by members of the encampment.

The other defendants were American Muslims for Palestine, the UC Divest Coalition and the WESPAC Foundation.

But Judge Scarsi dismissed claims against those groups on the grounds that the Brandeis Center had not sufficiently established they were directly involved with the encampment.

Discovery, including depositions, with the People’s City Council and National Students for Justice in Palestine can now proceed.

Wiczyk said that, “We are very excited to proceed with discovery. We are excited to learn who was involved with the planning. And to prove this did not occur by happenstance. “.