For Immediate Release
Please Forward Widely

November 14, 2008 (Berkeley, CA)

SJP is extremely concerned about a violent attack on three Arab Palestinian students on the evening of November 13, 2008 around 6:00PM, and calls upon campus administrators and authorities to immediately investigate the incident and bring those responsible to justice.

According to dozens of witnesses on the scene, three organizers for the “Zionist Freedom Alliance” attacked one male and two female Arab students who stood nearby the event holding a Palestinian flag. The assailants were identified by the Daily Californian to include current ASUC student senator John Moghtader, Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and performer Yehuda De sa. The paper also reported that all three had been cited by the UC Police Department on several counts of battery (Update 9:00AM 11/14: The Daily Californian now identifies only Gabe Weiner as having been cited. We are unsure what the status of the other two individuals is).

The three Arab students had decided to display the flag as a silent statement after hearing offensive anti-Arab remarks at the concert. They did not attempt to interfere with the event. Shortly after they put their flags on display, the assailants were seen angrily rushing into Eshleman Hall and disturbing several meetings to reach the protestors who were located on the 2nd floor balcony.  Students on the scene report that the men were yelling racial epithets directed at Arabs and Palestinians.

When the assailants arrived at the balcony, they attempted to push the protestors aside and take their flags away. Witnesses claim that the assailants eventually knocked one protestor against the balcony railing, with a scuffle ensuing where two Arab students, one male and one female, were hit several times. Within a few minutes the assailants began to rush away, though a small group of their supporters had followed them upstairs. Throughout the process the assailants and their supporters were also overheard making remarks like, “we’re about to take care of some f***ing Palestinians,” and “you Arab dogs, we will kill you.”

The group of assailants was eventually pushed away by a crowd of students who were waiting for the police to arrive and collect statements. One of the assailants accused his victims of assaulting him, causing citations to be issued on the victims despite the testimony of several witnesses on the scene refuting the claim. Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt during the ordeal.

SJP is concerned by the willful and concerted escalation to violence by these individuals, who are members of student organization Tikvah. SJP disagrees with the Daily Californian’s characterization of the event as the result of “tensions between Palestinian and Jewish students.” In fact, the incident was isolated, and the assailants are not representative of the Jewish community at Cal. After a series of similar threatening encounters with a handful of individuals this semester, SJP members began to document these incidents. Two of the attackers, John Moghtader and Gabe Weiner, were involved in another outburst at a campus lecture last month that led the Jewish Student Union to place Tikvah on probation [1, 2].

SJP calls upon campus administrators to pursue the incident immediately, and for students to remain committed to resolving their political differences through peaceful dialogue and discussion.

References

[1] (Video) Tikvah members disrupt Berkeley event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNkFwb4MS6Q

[2] Jewish SF: Friction among Jewish students at Cal (http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/36441/format/html/displaystory.html)

Response to Arutz Sheva News Release, November 16, 2008

This morning we became aware of an article on Arutz Sheva regarding the incident on Thursday evening. We were disappointed to see that they had incorrectly inverted what actually happened, probably in accordance with a factually baseless press release issued by Tikvah and the Zionist Freedom Alliance.

Arutz Sheva claims that Husam Zakharia was arrested and detained. In fact, that is not true, as a simple phone call to the UCPD can confirm

Arutz Sheva claims that the concert was attended by hundreds. In fact, that is not true, as the photograph below, taken before the altercation, shows. Clearly the reporter did not bother to confirm this fact either. There are no more than two to three dozen people in attendance.

Arutz Sheva claims that “Arab students attacked Jews.” In fact, neither the racial context nor the incident reporting is true. We will await the police report which will clarify the truth, but it is telling that the article regurgitates Tikvah’s press release almost word for word.

In the meantime, SJP has received a number of threatening e-mail’s calling Arabs “subhuman,” who should be “nuked,” calling for our death. We consider these to be a direct result of Arutz Sheva’s irresponsible and false reporting, and we call upon Arutz Sheva to retract the story immediately and apologize for its claims.