Three Jewish students have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the University of California Board of Regents and university officials, alleging that UCLA allowed “anti-Semitic activists” to block Jewish students from walking to classes, offices and the library on campus during anti-Israel protests in April and May.
In their lawsuit, two law students and one undergraduate student allege that UCLA allowed student groups and outside protesters to set up camp and that those protesters blocked Jewish students and faculty from accessing the center of campus.
This comes amid ongoing war between Hamas terrorists and Israeli forces in the Middle East, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israeli retaliatory military action.
Since October 7, anti-Israel protests have been taking place on college campuses across the United States and around the world. Students have filed lawsuits against universities for failing to ensure campus security in the wake of the campus protests. Universities facing lawsuits include Rutgers University and Columbia University, both of which settled this week with Jewish students who had sued the universities for an “unsafe educational environment.”
University faces lawsuit over handling of anti-Israel protests
Hundreds of students protested outside the Palestine Solidarity Camp on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Keith Birmingham/Media News Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
According to the complaint against UCLA, the university allowed protesters to set up encampments that enforced “Jew-free zones,” barring Jewish students, faculty and staff from entering the encampments or other parts of campus unless they agreed to deny Israel’s right to exist. Activists set up checkpoints, distributed wristbands and erected barricades, often linking arms to prevent Jewish students, faculty and staff from passing.
UCLA administrators knew about the camp for a week but took no action, according to the lawsuit, which also says that rather than clearing the camp, UCLA instructed security guards to stop unauthorized students from attempting to pass through the area that activists had cordoned off.
“If the masked protesters had been excluding other marginalized groups at UCLA, Governor Newsom would certainly have deployed the National Guard immediately,” said Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of Becket, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of three Jewish students. “Yet UCLA gave in to anti-Semitic activists and allowed Jewish students to be isolated from the heart of campus. This is a serious and unlawful failure of leadership.”
“This is America in 2024, not Germany in 1939, and it is appalling that a top American university has become a hotbed of anti-Semitism,” Rienzi continued. “UCLA officials should take responsibility for allowing the creation of Jewish-free zones and ensure that Jews will never again be segregated on campus.”
Since October 7, anti-Semitic demonstrations have been seen on college campuses across the United States and around the world. (Photo: Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images)
UCLA said in a statement that it is aware of the lawsuit and will review and respond in due course. The university said it remains committed to supporting the safety and well-being of its entire campus community.
According to the plaintiffs, activists at the camp “viciously targeted” Jewish students on campus.
Plaintiff Yitzchok Frankel, a law student and father of four, said he had suffered anti-Semitic harassment and was forced to abandon his usual commute around campus because of “Jew-free areas.”
Protesters allegedly repeatedly blocked plaintiff Joshua Gayoom, a sophomore history major, from entering the library and other public spaces, and he claims he heard slogans such as “Death to the Jews” at the campsite.
UCLA Students Slam ‘Squad’ for ‘Glorifying’ Anti-Israel Provocateurs: ‘They Should Be Ashamed’
Graffiti is painted as anti-Israel protesters set up an encampment at Powell Library on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles, California, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Getty Images)
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A third plaintiff, law student Eden Shemuelian, said she was forced to walk around the camp to use her law school library and hear anti-Semitic slogans and placards, severely compromising her studying for her final exams.
The students are asking the court to ensure that Jewish people never again face this kind of treatment on UCLA’s campus.
Police eventually cleared the UCLA encampment and arrested more than 200 people after a delayed law enforcement response.
