UCLA: The Moral Equivalency of the Daily Bruin

It has been announced that UCLA is among a growing list of universities that are being investigated for allegations of campus anti-Semitism by the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights. That fact is reported in this week's edition of the campus newspaper, the Daily Bruin.

Even since October 7 and the fighting between Israel and Hamas, campus papers all over the nation have tried to walk a fine line and not offend either side. So it is with the Daily Bruin. I am cross-posting three op-eds this week concerning the Israeli-Hamas war. One is a letter signed by faculty concerned about the atrocities committed by Hamas/campus anti-Semitism, and two taking an anti-Israel position, one of which is a letter signed by faculty against Israel. I note that I am personally familiar with two of the names of UCLA faculty members who signed the anti-Israel letter, Robin Kelly and Saree Makdisi, both of whom are noted anti-Israel activists. I have seen both of them speak at UC Irvine.

A third op-ed accuses UCLA of being complicit "in the genocide of Palestinians". This hysterical piece is signed by "Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine."

As to the free speech article signed by UCLA faculty members: Has anybody at UCLA or any other campus been arrested or expelled simply for protesting on behalf of Palestinians and/or Hamas? For waving a Palestinian flag? For wearing a Palestinian keffiya, either around the neck of covering their face? Not that I am aware of. Nor has anybody been suspended or expelled from any university for doing the above-that I am aware of. Those are protected expressions under our law, just as people like myself have the right to comment on those actions, to condemn them. What is not protected speech is bullying, assaults, threats, vandalism, or disruptions of the free speech rights of others, all of which are routinely committed by pro-Palestinain groups like Students for Justice in Palestine. In addition, the Robin Kelley's and Saree Makdisis of the world have been attacking Israel (verbally and in writing) for years. They are still teaching at UCLA, are they not? You see, these people, be they students or faculty, do not want to even be criticized by outside voices for their activism. They say we are attacking their free speech as if mere disagreement and criticism constituted censorship or silencing. What a spurious argument for people who are supposed to be educated and intelligent to make.

As for the third op-ed by "Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine", to talk of genocide of Palestinians is silly. In the past decades, the Palestinian population has exploded, tripled by some estimates I have seen. Were the Allies committing genocide against the German or Japanese people in World War 2? Of course not, and they did not go to the lengths the Israeli military has gone to limit civilian casualties when virtually every major German and Japanese city was leveled by air attack. I also point out that the op-ed makes no mention (let alone condemnation)  of what Hamas did on October 7, which led to a rightful declaration of war by Israel against Hamas. I see no mention of the fact that Hamas is using its own citizens as human shields as they have always done when fighting Israeli forces. That is why so many Palestinian civilians have died. Their blood is on the hands of Hamas.

In fact, nowhere in the letter is the word Hamas even mentioned just as it is not mentioned in the faculty letter defending "free speech"!

It is no wonder that the country is looking at our universities and wondering what the Hell is going on. We will continue to do so because that is our right of free speech. It is also our right to ask why our tax dollars are given to public universities like UCLA in the face of how Jewish students are treated. It is the right of donors to give their money to someone else. And if universities will not protect their Jewish students from harassment, it is the responsibility of government to investigate.