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Joel B. Pollak
Twenty-seven pro-Palestinian activists were arrested during another protest at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) on Monday, as the House of Representatives expanded its inquiry into antisemitism at the school.
UCLA was the setting for some of the ugliest scenes in the country during the wave of “encampments” this spring. Activists barred Jewish students and journalists from areas on campus; police only intervened after vigilantes struck.
UCLA making sure this time around, pro-Hamas activists do not take over the campus. Cops are dropping the hammer early. This is the way. pic.twitter.com/rjy86cwX01
— Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) June 11, 2024
A source told Breitbart News that some Jewish faculty members are afraid to walk on campus because of roving bands of pro-Palestinian activists that harass Jews.
The UCLA Daily Bruin the student newspaper, reported:
27 pro-Palestine protesters were arrested outside Dodd Hall after multiple students and law enforcement officers sustained injuries during Monday protests commemorating Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas war.
UCLA making sure this time around, pro-Hamas activists do not take over the campus. Cops are dropping the hammer early. This is the way. pic.twitter.com/rjy86cwX01
— Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) June 11, 2024
Over 100 pro-Palestine protesters set up encampments in Dickson Plaza, Kerckhoff Patio and Shapiro Courtyard – in that order – Monday afternoon. The protests follow two previous encampments organized by the UC Divest Coalition and Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA to demand that the UC divest from companies associated with the Israeli military.
🧵 Violence at UCLA again yesterday.
Protestors assaulted and harassed multiple people: a rabbi, a journalist, a security guard, and a vice chancellor.
First, the security guard was hit with what appears to be a smartphone: pic.twitter.com/WMcZlWyF6P
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) June 11, 2024
California Highway Patrol cars entered campus along Dickson Court outside Dodd Hall at 7:25 p.m. LAPD officers in riot gear carrying less-than-lethal weapons formed a line in front of Shapiro Courtyard at 7:50 p.m, joining CHP, the Culver City Police Department and UCPD.
Police fired “pepper bullets” at the crowd on campus shortly after midnight on Tuesday morning, the paper added.
The Times of Israel reported: “Video clips from UCLA showed masked anti-Israel protesters accosting Rabbi Dovid Gurevich and calling him a ‘pedophile,’ attacking a security guard, assaulting a journalist and yelling at a university administrator that he is “not safe.”
The Daily Bruin also reported that the Republican-run House Committee on Education and the Workforce is expanding its probe into UCLA, with possible consequences for federal funding:
.@UCLA — Pro-Hamas rioters trying to build another encampment were shut down on June 10 by police. The rioters came with shields but were no match for the riot police. The administration shut down the camp quickly, fearing a repeat of mass violence again. pic.twitter.com/8cIDIUn69E
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 11, 2024
The United States House of Representatives announced Monday that it had initiated a review into UCLA’s federal funding and learning environment amid the Department of Education’s investigation into antisemitism on the University’s campus.
In a letter signed by six Republican committee chairs and addressed to Chancellor Gene Block, UC President Michael Drake and UC Board of Regents Chair Richard Leib, the House expressed concern regarding the “ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic harassment and intimidation” at UCLA. The letter said the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into UCLA for shared ancestry violations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act based on these claims of discrimination, which include antisemitic harassment and intimidation.
…
This investigation comes after Block’s hearing in front of the majority-Republican committee May 23 regarding campus antisemitism. At the hearing, Block concurred with other university leaders that the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – which was recited at the UCLA Palestine solidarity encampment – can be seen as antisemitic. However, he opposed the claim that UCLA had become a “hotbed” of antisemitism.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who chairs the committee, told UCLA and several other universities at a hearing last month that they should be “ashamed” of the encampments and the general climate of antisemitism on campus.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
