UC Davis Incident Gets Worse

Hat tip to Prop-Israel Bay Bloggers

In the aftermath of the disruption of two Israeli soldiers' presentation at UC Davis, a number of faculty members have written a letter stating that no disruption took place. Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers has the report. The video is from Stand With Us. You be the judge.

http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2012/03/uc-davis-unbecoming-story-continues.html

Those professors who signed that letter are idiots.

In addition, here is the latest in the chain of letters between AMCHA Initiative and UC President Mark Yudof in regard to the Davis incident.

Dear President Yudof,

While we appreciate your acknowledgment of our letter to you regarding the failure of UC Davis police to protect Jewish students on that campus, we are disappointed that you did not outline specific actions that your administration intends to take to ensure that Jewish students are adequately protected.

In light of the recent murder of a rabbi and three small children outside of a Jewish school in Toulouse France, at the hands of a jihadi Islamist terrorist associated with Al Qaida, Jews worldwide feel particularly targeted and threatened. On UC campuses, pro-Israel Jewish students, who have already expressed feeling unsafe because of the intimidation and harassment directed at them from members and supporters of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Muslim Student Association (MSA), will now feel even more vulnerable and unsafe.

As you know, SJP and MSA groups have ties to individuals and organizations that call for the elimination of the Jewish state and the murder of Jews. Several of their former leaders and members have been arrested for terrorist activities, and some are affiliated with Al Qaida. At the 2011 MSA convention at UCLA, Amir Abdul Malik Ali, a frequent speaker on UC campuses well-known for his virulently antisemitic rhetoric, led students in the MSA pledge, which is an obvious restatement of the Muslim Brotherhood Credo calling for Jihad and enjoining its adherents to seek death in order to establish Islam.

Many in the Jewish community were horrified that the campus police did absolutely nothing to protect the First Amendment rights of Jewish students at UC Davis from a pre-planned attempt by members and supporters of the SJP and MSA to disrupt and shut down a peaceful pro-Israel event. We are are deeply concerned that UC campus police and administrators are not able to control SJP and MSA students who intimidate, harass, and threaten Jewish students.

Given the growing threat to their safety and well-being, it is incumbent upon you to inform the Jewish community as soon as possible about the specific steps you intend to take in order to keep Jewish students safe on UC campuses.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Leila Beckwith
Professor Emeritus, University of California at Los Angeles
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Lecturer, University of California at Santa Cruz
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative

Cc: University of California Chancellors

     University of California Regents

UC Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture, and Inclusion (c/o Jesse Bernal)

        California Speaker of the Assembly John A. Perez

        California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson

California State Senator Lois Wolk (Davis)

California State Assembly Member Mariko Yamada (Davis)

California State Assembly Member Jim Nielsen (Davis)

California State Senator Christine Kehoe (San Diego)

California State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (San Diego)

Bcc: Members and supporters of the Jewish community
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On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 1:35 PM, President's Office wrote:

Dear Professor Beckwith and Ms. Rossman-Benjamin:

Thank you for your email of March 16 regarding my Open Letter to the UC Community. I appreciate having your thoughts and recommendations. With best wishes, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Mark G. Yudof

President

cc: Chancellors

 Translation?

From: Tammi Rossman-Benjamin

Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 12:10 PM

To: President's Office
Cc:  chancellor@uci.edu; chancellor@conet.ucla.edu; chancellor@ucmerced.edu; chancellor@ucr.edu; chancellor@ucsd.edu; henry.yang@chancellor.ucsb.edu; chancellor@ucsc.edu; chancellor@ucdavis.edu; sue.hellmann@ucsf.edu; regentsoffice@ucop.edu; Jesse M. Bernal; Speaker.Perez@assembly.ca.gov; ttorlakson@cde.ca.gov; senator.wolk@senate.ca.gov; assemblymember.yamada@assembly.ca.gov; assemblymember.nielsen@assembly.ca.gov; senator.kehoe@senate.ca.gov; assemblymember.fletcher@assembly.ca.gov

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Subject: UC Davis police did not protect Jewish students

Dear President Yudof:

We appreciate your Open Letter to the University of California community, in which you forcefully condemn student hecklers at UC Davis who attempted to disrupt a pro-Israel event, and you clearly acknowledge that the hecklers' behavior, "meant to deny others their right to free speech," is not protected by the First Amendment.

We do, however, disagree with your statement that UC Davis officials "dealt appropriately" with the situation.

There is ample evidence that the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) conspired to disrupt and ultimately shut down the Jewish students' event. Their behavior was an egregious infringement of the Jewish students' freedom of expression and assembly, and a clear violation of university policy, state law, and common decency. Yet eyewitnesses reported that the campus police, who are responsible for enforcing University policy and upholding the law, did absolutely nothing to prevent the disruption, which lasted for most of the duration of the event. According to one witness, UC Davis Professor of Medicine Dr. David Siegel:

"Disgracefully, campus security and the UC Davis Police did nothing to prevent this behavior...They also refused to take the names of the disruptive individuals. Clearly this sets a chilling precedent for future campus public events where one individual could disrupt the event without any fear of consequences."

As you may know, during the same week as the SJP students planned and successfully disrupted the pro-Israel event at UC Davis, members of the SJP at UC Riverside and UCLA planned and carried out disruptions of pro-Israel events on their respective campuses. This is not surprising, since SJP's primary mission as a student organization is to mount campaigns for harming the Jewish state and its supporters, and SJP's events and activities often specifically target pro-Israel Jewish students for harassment and intimidation. Considering the fact that SJP has ties to organizations and individuals who have called for the elimination of the Jewish state and the murder of Jews, it is not hard to understand why some Jewish students who openly identify with the Jewish state have reported being fearful for their safety on UC campuses. (In this video, several Jewish students at UCSD describe how the SJP's anti-Israel divestment campaign has created an emotionally and physically threatening climate for them, and that they do not feel safe on their own campus). The data are irrefutable.

The UC Davis police witnessed the bullying, harassment, intimidation, and fear of the Jewish students, yet chose not to act. By turning a blind eye to the illegal and morally reprehensible behavior of the hecklers, the UC Davis police, under orders from top University administrators, failed to ensure the basic civil rights of Jewish students to freedom of assembly and expression, as well as their right to a campus climate free from bullying, harassment, intimidation, and fear. The failure of University police to act suggests that the University leadership has lost control of its campus and that the safety of Jewish students is at risk.

Immediate binding action must be taken to protect Jewish students on all UC campuses. We recommend the following:

• University policy must spell out actions that campus police, administrators, and staff are responsible for taking to ensure the safety and civil rights of all students, and we urge that this policy be published widely to the campus community.
• Police, administrators, and staff must be immediately informed about actions they should take and protocols they can access to afford all members of the campus community -- including Jewish students -- the protections that are afforded to them under University policy and state and federal law.
• Individual students who disrupt or threaten others at University events should be immediately removed from the environment.
• Perpetrators of disruptive and threatening behavior must be identified and appropriately disciplined.
• Official student groups that engage in behavior which targets other students for harassment and intimidation should have their organization's official status revoked and should receive no funds from the student government or University.

We look forward to hearing from you about the steps you intend to take to ensure that Jewish students have the same protections and civil rights as all other students at the University of California.

Sincerely,

Leila Beckwith
Professor Emeritus, University of California at Los Angeles
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Lecturer, University of California at Santa Cruz
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative

Cc: University of California Chancellors

University of California Regents

UC Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture, and Inclusion (c/o Jesse Bernal)

California Speaker of the Assembly John A. Perez

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson

California State Senator Lois Wolk (Davis)

California State Assembly Member Mariko Yamada (Davis)

California State Assembly Member Jim Nielsen (Davis)

California State Senator Christine Kehoe (San Diego)

California State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (San Diego)

Bcc: Members and supporters of the Jewish community