Israeli speaker disrupted at UC Berkeley Law School event by pro-Palestine protesters
Student activists at the University of California, Berkeley Law School recently disrupted the presentation of an Israeli speaker who had been invited to speak at the institution.
The speaker was Simcha Rothman, an Israeli politician and member of a right-wing, Zionist party.
Student activists at the University of California, Berkeley Law School recently disrupted the presentation of an Israeli speaker who had been invited to speak at the institution.
The speaker was Simcha Rothman, an Israeli politician and member of a right-wing, Zionist party. The event was disrupted by both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine student demonstrators, according to Jweekly.
The pro-Palestine demonstrators reportedly shouted “Free, Free Palestine” and “Israel is a terrorist state.” Other anti-Israel activists are said to have worn keffiyehs and carried signs with the names of Palestinians who have been killed in the fighting.
Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky sent out a statement to the school community condemning the protest.
“What occurred today in the Law School is unacceptable in an academic community,” Chemerinsky stated. “As I expressed in explaining our free speech policy at the beginning of the semester, we must be a place where all ideas and views can be expressed. There is no right to disrupt a speaker.”
“In clear violation of the policies of the Law School and the campus, an event was disrupted by audience members who refused to stop their loud protest despite being asked to leave,” Cherminsky continued. “This forced us to shift to a virtual event on Zoom.”
Campus Reform reported in August that UC Berkeley’s student government gave nearly $10,000 to anti-Israel student organizations in the past year, including groups called “Bears for Palestine” and Graduate Students for Palestine, the former of which reportedly organized a violent anti-Israel protest in February.
Bears for Palestine organized a demonstration against Israeli speaker Ran Bar-Yoshafat, saying that he was a part of “the obliteration of Gaza and extermination of Palestinians.” The group asserted that Bar-Yoshafa was “dangerous,” had “Palestinian blood on his hands,” and was a “genocidal murderer.”
Campus Reform has also reported that UC Berkeley will introduce a new program on “Palestinian and Arab Studies.” The university has announced that part of the purpose of the program is to foster an “inclusive education.”
Campus Reform has contacted the University of California, Berkeley for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
