At the University of California, Berkeley, a strange but revealing twist on the usual campus anti-Israel activism took place. Two faculty members, Steven Hayward and John Yoo, invited the Knesset member Simcha Rothman to come speak about judicial overreach in Israel and his controversial attempts at reform. “But,” writes Hayward, “it got weird.”
The protestors inside the lecture hall who shut down the event were mostly left-wing Jews. Outside the lecture hall was the rabble of anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas demonstrators who took the event as an opportunity to attack any Jews at hand—even left-wing Jews.
Although as mentioned the chief of police and vice-chancellor were present, there were no serious efforts to arrest any of the disruptors. The official explanation was that the police feared that “both sides” would escalate into physical violence.
And despite the [administration’s] boast that such things cannot be allowed to happen again, they will until Berkeley and other universities get serious about arresting and prosecuting disruptors, as well as expelling students who participate. I’m not holding my breath.
October 7 is just around the corner. I expect this first anniversary of that atrocity will see significant campus demonstrations and unrest around the country.
It’s interesting to note that since October 7, university presidents and administrators have suddenly discovered the virtues of free speech, and pundits have accused right-leaning critics of the anti-Israel protests of hypocrisy for supposedly abandoning their commitment to freedom of speech. But this story shows the absurdity of the actions of the former and the arguments of the latter: preserving free speech in fact requires punishing violent and disruptive behavior.
More about: Berkeley, Freedom of Speech, Israel on campus, Israeli Judicial Reform