While pro-Palestine and anti-Israel demonstrations are happening at universities across the country, at least one school is bucking the terrorist loving trend.
Approximately 300 faculty members at The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) signed a letter urging the university to “make the strongest possible statements condemning the barbaric Hamas attacks” and to denounce “pro-Palestinian rallies on campus in which the massacres by Hamas were celebrated, including explicit calls for violence.”
Earlier in the week, protestors at UCLA were filmed hitting a piñata bearing an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the chant of “Beat that f–king Jew!”
A crowd of students assembled around the effigy on Wednesday to express their anger at Israel’s retaliatory strikes in Gaza after the Hamas attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, according to a clip posted on X.
Many of the protesters are seen wearing keffiyeh scarves on their heads and over their faces as they take turns pummeling the swiveling piñata amid loud chants.
“Beat that f—g Jew!” a woman screams into a bullhorn as the crowd chants, “Free, free Palestine!”
Watch:
‘Beat That F–king Jew!’
UCLA Students Batter Bibi Effigy to Chants of ‘Beat That F–king Jew!’ https://t.co/QxnARHG67I
— Pamela Geller (@PamelaGeller) November 11, 2023
The Gateway Pundit reported on the hundreds of Muslims and young Israel-haters marching at UCLA chanting “Intifada! Intifada!” and carrying Palestinian flags.
The “intifada” is a celebrated time of bloody uprising against Jews in Israel marked by violent bombings and deaths.
The letter from UCLA faculty refreshingly is speaking out.
Remarkable to see how faculty at different universities respond to terrorism. https://t.co/bmjUusMAYy
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) November 11, 2023
The full letter condemning the violent behavior and rhetoric is below:
We (signed below) are UCLA faculty who are deeply concerned about the recent terror attack by the Hamas terror organization, the celebrations of the attack in rallies on the UCLA campus and the UCLA response. We are concerned about the impact of these on the sense of community at UCLA, as well as on the safety of our community of students, staff, and faculty on campus.
On the morning of October 7, Hamas terrorists launched an attack on Israeli civilians, entering Israel from Gaza. The terror attacks were cruel and horrific beyond anything that has been seen since the days of the Holocaust. As a result of the massacre performed by Hamas, a quarter of the bodies of Israeli civilians still, three weeks after the terror attack, cannot be identified; babies were beheaded; entire families were tortured and then executed; women were abused and their mistreated naked bodies were paraded; entire villages were completely wiped out, and the Hamas terrorists massacred and slaughtered 260 innocent youth from many nationalities at a music festival. The terrorists took more than 220 hostages back to Gaza, mostly children, women and elderly. The victims of the terror attack include citizens of Israel, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Nepal, Thailand, the Philippines, Russia, China, Turkey, Germany and many other countries, several of whose nationals are also being held hostage in Gaza. Many in the Jewish world already refer to October 7th terror attacks as a second Holocaust.
While we all have our different political views on the Israeli-Palestinian situation, the October 7 slaughter should be condemned irrespective of political views. UCLA leadership must make the strongest possible statements condemning the barbaric Hamas attacks. There is no room for moral equivalence. There is no room for “both-sideism.” There is no room for ambiguity.
In addition, while we all cherish the First Amendment and its guarantees of freedom of speech and assembly, UCLA must ensure that any hate speeches and celebrations of the Hamas massacre by students and faculty on our campus are prevented from crossing the line from protected speech to unlawful incitement. We were horrified to see Pro-Palestinian rallies on campus in which the massacres by Hamas were celebrated, including explicit calls for violence (including chanting “Intifada” or event advertisements featuring images of weapons/violence). Such celebrations create an atmosphere of fear; one cannot imagine that UCLA will allow for celebrations of the killing of George Floyd, or for celebrations of the Armenian genocide, or the celebrations of the 9/11 attacks. It is inconceivable why such celebrations are not denounced by the UCLA leadership, regardless of political views. The atmosphere on campus results in Jewish students, staff, and faculty who are afraid to be on campus, show solidarity with Israel, or practice their freedom of religion in public.
We therefore urge the UCLA leadership to take the following actions:
- Denounce in the strongest possible terms any celebrations of Hamas terror attacks and killings. The Administration must take firm steps (including a public statement) to denounce any campus rallies crossing the line from speech to incitement, such as those rallies where speakers call for violence and spilling blood.
- Join President Biden and the European Union in characterizing Hamas as a terrorist organization.
- Hold student groups and UCLA community members accountable who directly participate in such incitement (e.g. distributing event invitations that encourage incitement) by enforcing existing UCLA policies prohibiting such behavior.
- Enforce UCLA’s EDI program to fight antisemitism in all its insidious manifestations, including anti-Israelism by designating a special envoy to coordinate this fight.
We thank you in advance for your consideration of these requests. We write to you in anticipation of ready collaboration and a reasonable discussion of our concerns. With broad support from concerned colleagues, we will advocate for the liberal values that this University is supposed to champion, for the protection of students against antisemitic abuse.
We thank you for your consideration, for your work to create a more inclusive community, and we look forward to speaking soon.
