UC Berkeley student government gave anti-Israel student groups more than $8,000: Exclusive

EXCLUSIVE: The student government at the University of California, Berkeley gave over $8,000 to anti-Israel groups over the past year, according to records obtained by Campus Reform.

Records obtained by Campus Reform through a public records request show that the Associated Students of the University of California gave $6,500 to Bears for Palestine in August 2023, and $1,631.22 to Graduate Students for Palestine in April 2024, for a total of $8,131 in funding.

The funding given to Bears for Palestine was intended to be used for the fall 2023 semester and spring 2024 semester.

Bears for Palestine garnered widespread criticism when it organized a violent protest in February targeting an event that featured a pro-Israel speaker.

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In a February Instagram post, Bears for Palestine wrote prior to the event featuring Bar Yoshafat, a former member of the IDF, that the organization would be “SHUTTING IT DOWN.”

”In October of 2023, Ran Bar-Yoshafat was serving in the IOF, partaking in the obliteration of Gaza and extermination of Palestinians,” a post by the group states. “He has now been invited to speak on our campus to spread settler colonial Zionist propaganda about the very genocide he has participated in. This individual is dangerous. Ran Bar-Yoshafat has Palestinian blood on his hands. He has committed crimes against humanity, is a genocide denier, and we will not allow for this event to go on. GENOCIDAL MURDERERS OUT OF BERKELEY.”

The group went on to encourage others to help “shut it down” at 6 p.m. and gave protesters the location of the event, as Campus Reform reported.

Yoshafat was prevented from speaking, as around 200 people mobbed the building and prevented community members from entering the event, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which reported that doors were broken and the building was evacuated.

Three people were allegedly assaulted by protesters at the event, according to an organizer.

Responding to criticism after the incident, Bears for Palestine went on to praise the “resistance” that is fighting Israel.

“Glory to Palestine, glory to the resistance, and the utmost glory to our martyrs—whose blood stains the hands of the Zionist occupation & all colonial forces that endorse it,” Bears for Palestine wrote.

A Bears for Palestine spokesperson told Campus Reform at the time that their usage of the term “The resistance does not refer to Hamas, or any specific militant group,” but rather “any person, globally (including pro-Palestinian allies), that is fighting against Israeli oppression and expansion, whether that is politically, financially, or physically.”

When reached for comment, a spokesman for UC Berkeley told Campus Reform that the ASUC is an independent organization.

”The ASUC is an independent organization and does not represent, or act at the behest of the university. As per long-standing practice, the university usually refrains from offering comment on the actions of other institutions or organizations, particularly those which are able to speak for themselves regarding their actions and/or perspectives,” the spokesman said.

Notably, each undergraduate is charged $34 per semester which goes to fund the ASUC.

Attorney Marc Greendorfer, Founder of Zachor Legal Institute, alleged in a comment to Campus Reform that UC Berkeley is violating non-discrimination commitments

“UC is violating required non-discrimination commitments it made to obtain federal funding and should have its federal funding revoked,” and that the school “should be found criminally liable for providing the funding that was used by SJP groups to deprive Jewish students of their constitutional and federally protected rights.”

[RELATED: Jewish advocacy groups compare Columbia student activists to KKK, seek DOJ intervention]

The Berkeley College Republicans told Campus Reform that organizations that support Hamas are “repugnant” and deserve “condemnation of the highest order,” adding that the student government’s funding for such groups is “scandalous and a result of what happens when radical leftism takes over campuses and communities.” 

Campus Reform reached out to Bears for Palestine and Graduate Students for Palestine for comment.