Media Roundup: Palestine Legal on pro-Palestine Berkeley Law students’ speech rights

Law students at the University of California at Berkeley are facing threats and attacks because of their commitment not to host speakers who support Israeli apartheid. Local, national and international Israel lobby groups have made wild accusations that the students are calling for a “ban on Jews”.

Below is a media roundup of articles countering the campaign of lies fueled by Israel lobbyists, and our support for the Berkeley law students in defense of their free speech rights, in outlets including Electronic Intifada, Jewish Currents, The Daily Beast, +972 Magazine, The Daily Californian, and the Public News Service.

The Electronic Intifada

Israel lobby fabricates anti-Semitism crisis at Berkeley

"University administrators, Saba said, should be working 'to the extent they can to protect their students who are being targeted and doxxed by very powerful people who disagree with their politics.'

Saba said that if university officials do take punitive measures against Berkeley law students, 'which I don’t think they will, someone should sue them.'
Saba added that it is telling that no one in power seems to be that concerned that Hillel, the national Jewish campus organization, has adopted its own bylaws around support for Israel. Its rules clearly restrict the participation of the many Jewish students who support BDS or identify as anti-Zionist.

Hillel is 'a Zionist organization that holds these commitments in their charter without backlash and furor from university administrators,' Saba noted. And of course no Israel lobby groups have accused Hillel of setting up 'Jewish-free zones.'"

Jewish Currents

In Internal Memo, American Jewish Committee Blasts Op-Ed on “Jewish-Free Zones” at Berkeley Law

“'It’s a solidarity-building tool. That’s part of why this agitated so many people on campus and beyond,' said Liz Jackson, a staff attorney at Palestine Legal. ‘It takes the issue of Palestine from a niche or isolated issue, and makes it a cross-movement cause.' Jackson defended the rights of student groups to adopt such bylaws.

Meanwhile, the SJP member who spoke with Jewish Currents noted that, while bylaw-supporting student organizations have faced harassment and are concerned by the dean’s threat to sanction them, the visibility has also bolstered their campaign: In the past month, five more clubs have adopted the bylaw, bringing the total to 14."

The Daily Beast

Pro-Palestinian Berkeley Law Students Have Free Speech Rights, Too

“We don’t have to host pro-Zionist speakers who support Israeli apartheid—just as any other campus group can choose not to associate with politics they oppose.” writes Palestine Legal staff attorney, Dylan Saba, in an Op-Ed for The Daily Beast

The Daily Californian

Palestine liberation is core to my Jewish beliefs

“Anti-Zionism is core to my Jewish values. I believe that I am not free until all people are free, especially Palestinians who are imprisoned, assassinated and bombed under a flag with the Star of David on it. 

Earlier this month, a former Trump appointee manufactured a crisis with an op-ed that claimed there were “Jewish-free zones” at UC Berkeley. This is a patently false picture of what is happening on campus. But the fake news traveled and a harassment campaign ensued, targeting the students who are Palestinian, Black, Muslim, Queer, Asian, women of color and Jewish allies.

But this is not just about UC Berkeley. There is a larger agenda to censor Palestine advocacy by falsely equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Zionist groups are using the UC Berkeley campus as a spectacle to generate media in order to pressure the U.S. Department of Education to define criticism of Israel as antisemitic. This is a legal strategy to justify censorship, akin to right-wing attempts to ban teaching about racism.” writes Palestine Legal senior staff attorney, Liz Jackson, in an Op-Ed for The Daily Californian

+972 Magazine

Anatomy of a scandal: Unraveling the myth of ‘Jewish-free zones’ at UC Berkeley

“Palestine Legal’s Saba told +972 that anti-discrimination law is not meant to encompass political stances such as Zionism. Unlike race, sex, or sexual orientation, ‘Zionism is not a protected class. You don’t have a right to be a Zionist without criticism,’ he said. But legal efforts by Marcus and others to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism would effectively turn Zionism into a protected class by defining it as an essential part of Judaism.

In Saba’s view, ensuring that political ideologies remain open to critique is crucial for democracy. ‘If the constitution protected people from discrimination…for holding political views, then the status quo would be permanently held in place, because no one would be allowed to organize politically,’ he said.”

Public News Service

Controversy Over Free Speech Roils Berkeley Law School

“Dylan Saba, staff attorney at Palestine Legal who is Palestinian and Jewish, said the backlash the students are facing is unfair, and could harm their future job prospects.

Saba said the bylaw would exclude speakers based on political expression, not religion. He added there's a double standard when it comes to groups supporting the boycott, divest, sanctions movement, known as BDS.”