UC Berkeley administrators are standing by their decision to take a hands-off approach to the tent encampment at Sproul Plaza despite two attacks that have rattled pro-Israel Jewish students and left a pro-Israel activist injured.
Dan Mogulof, a spokesperson for the university, told J. on Friday that while “we are ready to change our stance at any time,” the university does not plan to take any drastic steps — such as dismantling the camp — in response to the violent incidents.
The response from Cal highlights the university’s reluctance to get in the middle of anti-Israel protests and its wish to avoid the harsh media spotlight shone on campuses like UCLA, Columbia, University of Texas at Austin and others that have sent in police in riot gear to use force and break up tent encampments in recent weeks.
Such a scene would be deeply discordant with Cal’s identity as a bastion of free speech and a university welcoming of protests of all sorts. The campus felt that friction in 2011 when officers arrested demonstrators camping amid the Occupy Wall Street protests.
“We don’t believe we’ve come to the point where we need to take the sort of actions that have led to utter chaos and calamity for the entire community — actions that we’ve seen at other universities,” Mogulof said.
Mogulof has repeatedly told J. that the university is focusing on two top priorities. The first is to avoid what he called the “disruption of campus operations, which include teaching, learning and research,” and the second is ensuring the “physical safety of the campus community” and responding to “isolated or individual acts of violence, harassment or discrimination.”
Yet two violent outbursts against Jews at or near Sproul Plaza, have increased scrutiny on the university even as the semester nears its end. Finals begin Monday.
The first incident occurred on April 26, when a Jewish law student, Noah Cohen, was blocked by a protester from recording the Sproul Plaza scene on his cell phone, was followed as he sought out an administrator or police officer and then was punched in the face as he attempted to walk back into the protest area. The incident is partially captured in a chaotic cell phone video obtained by J. and posted online.
In an interview with J., Cohen described the protest as “dystopian,” saying Sproul Plaza had become a place where dissenting viewpoints are not allowed and can invite violence.
“There’s not freedom of movement if your message doesn’t comply to what they want it to be,” he said.
According to another video recorded on Wednesday, a man in a T-shirt and green pants punched Ilan Sinelnikov, a pro-Israel activist, in the head multiple times during a scuffle over an Israeli flag. The alleged assailant wasn’t wearing a medical mask, unlike most of the protesters who wear masks or garments over their faces.
Sinelnikov, who was visiting from Florida, is president of the pro-Israel group Students Supporting Israel (SSI).
A group of about 10 students affiliated with SSI’s Berkeley chapter walked to Sproul Plaza that evening, Sinelnikov said, with three Israeli flags to “show that we are here — that there are Zionist students on this campus, and they’re not going anywhere.” He said they sang Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, and chanted “Bring them home!” in reference to the 133 hostages who are still held by Hamas in Gaza.
A cell phone video recorded by a Cal undergraduate named Atara, who asked J. not to publish her last name to maintain her privacy, shows someone shouting “Go back to Europe!” before a man grabs her Israeli flag.
The video shows Sinelnikov attempting to wrestle the flag back. At that point, the man in the green pants comes from Sinelnikov’s left and delivers three hard punches at his head and face. One of the punches split his lip; another connected with his head. He was treated and given a concussion test by paramedics at the campus police station.
“I felt that if we gave them the flag, they might go and burn it,” said Sinelnikov, whose parents emigrated in 1989 from the Soviet Union to Israel, where he was born.
Both Sinelnikov and Atara said they encountered antisemitism during the incident — that someone in the crowd shouted “Talmudic devils!” Atara said she also heard people shout “Death to Zionists!” “Intifada!” and some say “failed experiments, failed experiments.”
“I had never seen anything like this before,” Sinelnikov said.
“It was very much hate speech, and hostile to begin with,” Atara said. “We literally were standing there. We said, ‘This is our right. This is free speech.’”
Cohen said that the encampment, which is on a main campus thoroughfare, has raised questions among the Berkeley Jewish community about whether it creates a hostile environment, particularly for those who support Israel. He described the rhetoric coming from the tent camp as “hateful.”
“Have they seized a building? No,” he said. “But are Jewish students comfortable walking through that part of campus?”
UC Berkeley is offering escorts to students who feel uncomfortable traversing the plaza, and the university said it is increasing faculty monitors in the protest area.
Mogulof said both attacks are under investigation by university police. The University of California Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.