UC Berkeley Has Devolved Into a Cesspool of Anti-Semitism

It sounds like the University of California at Berkeley has devolved into a cesspool of anti-Semitism, where even the police cower in the face of Hamasnik hooliganism.

The school is already being sued  for “inaction” over rampant Jew hatred on campus.  And this week, the University was hit with a federal discrimination complaint over its indifference to the repeated assault and harassment of a Jewish student.  With the acquiescence of a top University official, he was even blocked from walking freely on campus.

The complaint was filed  with the Education Department Office for Civil Rights by the Los Angeles-based StandWithUs, an international, educational organization that supports Israel and fights ant-Semitism. The filing, which  charges discrimination in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,  says the Berkeley police department twice refused to apprehend the student’s masked assailants at pro-Hamas demonstrations because they feared inciting a riot.

StandWithUs legal director Yael Lerman told the California Globe that by filing the complaint, “We are trying to get accountability and repercussions for police negligence. This was a dereliction of their duty to protect Jewish students.”

The March 18 complaint argues that, “UC Berkeley contributes to a hostile climate for Jewish, Zionist and Israeli students through its inaction, refusal to enforce its own policies, deliberate dismissiveness of Jewish students’ safety concerns and at times active participation in the deprivation of Jewish students’ rights.”

The Jewish student is an observant Jew who the complaint says is “visibly identified as a Jew” because he wears a yarmulke and tzitzit, “a garment with string fringes.”

He was initially attacked in 2023,  and then the next year a strikingly similar incident unfolded.

The first incident occurred on October 16, 2023 when he tried to attend Jewish students’ counter-protest to a  demonstration by the Berkeley student group Bears for Palestine.

What occurred is so harrowing it is worth quoting the complaint at length.

“As Co-Complainant walked to the pro-Israel rally holding an Israeli flag draped around his neck and shoulders like a cape (not as a political statement but rather as an expression of his Jewish ancestral identity), two fully masked individuals approached him from behind and aggressively yanked at the flag, nearly pulling Co-Complainant to the ground. The assailants continued to struggle with Co-Complainant in an apparent attempt to steal the Israeli flag for approximately 15-30 seconds, until a bystander began yelling, “Get a video!” At that point, the assailants, still masked, walked away, though one turned back, displayed her middle finger, and shouted,“You’re so fucking lucky. Fuck you, guys. “

The student then went to the University of California Police Department office to make an oral report of the incident to a UPCD officer. He returned to the rally and spotted his assailants at the outskirts of the Bears for Palestine rally.

Back he went to the UPCD office with video from the incident, hoping that he could get officers to arrest the perpetrators.  Instead, he got one excuse after another from the police for inaction.

“The UCPD officer told Co-Complainant that he would be unable to place them under arrest until the rally dispersed for safety reasons. The UCPD officer mentioned that he thought arresting the suspects could cause a riot. The UCPD officer did not attempt at any time to approach the suspects to request any form of identification, nor did he take down their identifying details to effectuate an arrest at a later time.”

The cover-up continued. The student was later told by a police lieutenant that they would not investigate the assault as a hate crime.

The police report also said there was insufficient cause for the officers to wade into the crowd to arrest the suspects because they did not “pose a physical threat to anyone.”

That is a curious description for people who had just acted violently.

The second incident occurred nearly one year later on September 12, 2024,  when a masked protester at a Students for Justice in Palestine demonstration blocked his path through campus.

“When Co-Complainant approached the area in order to walk between the fake body bags and get to class, a masked individual stopped and blocked him. The masked individual then put his hands on Co-Complainant to stop him from walking on campus through the display. When the Co-Complainant tried walking around him, the masked individual continued to block him and pushed him back.”

The complaint says he was targeted for being visibly Jewish and presumed an Israel supporter. “Co-Complainant believes this unwanted physical contact and blocking was because Co-Complainant appeared identifiably Jewish and therefore was assumed not to be part of the anti-Zionist group unlawfully utilizing the space.”

As the incident unfolded a university administrator suddenly appeared. But rather than intervening on behalf of the student he told him to take another route.

The complaint says “the Associate Dean of Students and Director of the Center for Support and Intervention, who is also an Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor, appeared and intervened. Rather than assist Co-Complainant, whose rights were being violated, and rather than take any disciplinary action against the individual who was violating those rights, this administrator instructed Co-Complainant to alter his course to get to class. He told Co-Complainant he must go around that area and walk through a different part of the gate, which was only partially restricted, though still congested due to the demonstration.”

Asked what she thought about the administrator bowing to the mob, Lerman of StandwithUs said, “It appears that the administrator cared more about protecting the pro-Hamas activists engaged in unlawful conduct than ensuring the safety and rights of Jewish students who were being targeted for harassment and discrimination by the protestors.”

Lerman declined to identify this person by name. But the University of California website lists James Kato as Interim Assistant Dean of Students and Director of the Center for Support and Intervention.

Kato’s Linkedin profile says he has held this position since August 2022.  An emailed inquiry was met with an auto reply that said he is out of the office until March 24.

Shortly after the incident, the student reported the assault to the University police office  and provided a photograph of the attacker.  Accompanied by an officer, he then went back outside the demonstration, pointing  out the attacker.  But the student was stonewalled again.

“The UCPD officer informed Co-Complainant that he would not be able to approach the suspect to identify him because that would cause a riot, since the suspect was still with the crowd of protestors.”

Instead, the officer told the student to handle things himself. “Ultimately, the UCPD officer did not approach the suspect and instead insisted that Co-Complainant sign a citizen’s arrest form—and arrest the masked individual himself.”

The student, fearing for his personal safety, declined to do so.

He filed a complaint with the University about the officer’s conduct. On February 24 of this year, Executive Director of Civil Rights and Whistleblower Compliance Kellie Brennan told him that the officer had followed proper protocol. She wrote that,  “it is not protocol for an officer to arrest a suspect in a crowd of 75 people over a misdemeanor battery (via push), particularly when the victim declines to sign a private person’s arrest (required for misdemeanors committed outside of an officer’s presence).”

Lerman was incredulous about that explanation. “They are saying it is not their protocol to launch an investigation because they might have to arrest the suspect or to use force? It is a bogus argument and a dereliction of duty” and an abject failure to protect Jewish students.

University of California at Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof did not reply to a request for comment.