Violent riots erupted Monday night on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley after attorney Ran Bar-Yoshafat, deputy director of the Kohelet Policy Forum, arrived on campus after being invited by Jewish organizations on campus to speak to students about Israel advocacy during the war.
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Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists who heard about the event, titled "Israel at War: Combat the Lies," gathered outside the Zellerbach Playhouse event hall and tried to prevent students from entering. They shouted "global intifada," spit on the students, banged on the doors and broke windows, which then led to physical confrontations.
Watch violent pro-Palestinian protesters accost Jewish students at UC Berkeley
"They grabbed me by the neck and pushed me against the wall. A student shouted at me 'dirty Jewess' and spat at me. It was pure antisemitism," said one Jewish student. An Israeli student said that they heard chants of "global intifada" all over campus. "I'm just scared to death to be an Israeli or Jewish student at Berkeley now," the student said.
Police forces were called to the scene to separate the Jewish students and the protesters. Police estimated that there were between 100 and 250 protesters throughout the evening.
Chancellor Carol Christ in a statement issued a day after the violent protests said it was "an incident that violated not only our rules, but also some of our most fundamental values."
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Pro-Palestinian protesters run to disrupt an Israeli speaker on the UC Berkeley campus
"We deeply respect the right to protest as intrinsic to the values of a democracy and an institution of higher education. Yet, we cannot ignore protest activity that interferes with the rights of others to hear and/or express perspectives of their choosing. We cannot allow the use or threat of force to violate the First Amendment rights of a speaker, no matter how much we might disagree with their views. We cannot allow the use or threat of force to imperil members of our community and deny them the ability to feel safe and welcome on our campus. We cannot cede our values to those willing to engage in transgressive behavior," she also wrote.
The Berkeley Hillel Jewish Student Center on campus called on students who feel distressed following the event to contact them for emotional support.
"We are saddened and horrified that an event with Israeli speaker Ron Bar-Yoshafat was shut down by protesters on the evening of February 26, 2024, at Zellerbach Playhouse. Breaking windows, intimidating students, and inciting a mob are never acceptable and have no place in civil discourse. We are proud of the students who organized the event and remained steadfast in the face of bullying and intimidation of Jewish and Israeli students. Berkeley Hillel remains committed every day to supporting Jewish students' ability to fully express their Jewish identity without fear," Hillel said in a statement.
"We appreciate the UC Berkeley's administration and UCPD who were present and attempted to maintain order and see that the event could take place, even though they were unsuccessful. We support the university in holding these disruptors accountable for their actions and destruction of university property," the statement also said.
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Idan Harel, Bay Area regional manager of the Club Z organization that hosted the Israeli speaker
Idan Harel, 36, Bay Area regional manager of the Club Z organization that invited Bar-Yoshafat, emphasizes that the speaker's identity was not the trigger for the riots.
"In the past we also brought speakers from the Israeli left and there were also calls against it then. It's irrelevant. We are in the most antisemitic area in the United States, we need to understand that. Today it is dangerous to be a Jew here on campus. A student who was attacked is in intensive care. They spat on us. And students who stayed on campus have to deal with it every day. But we will not be silenced," Harel said.
"It feels like Germany in the 1930s here, there is silence from the authorities and they don't try to make us feel safe," he added. "I personally requested that there be increased policing at the event because I knew what awaited us, but I was ignored. Miraculously, more serious injuries were avoided. They came with clubs and sticks and were very violent. What will happen next?"
Bar-Yoshafat served for several weeks in Gaza in an IDF special forces unit following the Hamas massacre on October 7.
Israel's deputy consul general in San Francisco, Matan Zamir, said in response to the riots that "the consulate takes seriously the incident that occurred yesterday evening at the University of Berkeley. This event is the latest in a series of similar events on campuses across the U.S., which reflect a sharp and dangerous increase in the threat to the safety and security of Jewish and Israeli students, just because of their identity and their opinions. In a country that sanctifies freedom of expression and at a prestigious university that sanctifies academic freedom, a situation where violent and angry crowds is an impossible one meant dictate the policy on campus, as happened last night. The consulate is in contact with the organizers of the event and the campus authorities and continues, as in the past, to demand from the law enforcement authorities at Berkeley to quickly identify and punish all those involved in the incident, both on the criminal and the disciplinary level."