Israeli Attorney Ran Bar-Yoshafat to Revisit Berkeley Following Disruption by Anti-Semitic Crowd
“This Goes Beyond Israeli or Jewish Concerns,” Affirms Ran Bar-Yoshafat
Ran Bar-Yoshafat, the Israeli lawyer whose speech at University of California, Berkeley was abruptly halted by an anti-Semitic protest last month, is set to deliver a resolute comeback presentation on campus next week.
Bar-Yoshafat will grace Berkeley once again for a Monday event, upheld by Tikvah Students for Israel alongside various pro-Israel factions. His re-emergence follows the distressing episode where previous demonstrators resorted to physical and verbal attacks, even going as far as assaulting student attendees.
Addressing Free Speech and Intolerance
“It’s much more than an Israeli battle or a Jewish plight. What we’re witnessing is the erosion of Western civilization’s core values, where open discourse is no longer a given,” Bar-Yoshafat conveyed to the Washington Free Beacon. Despite being a reserve officer, he underscores the gravity of silencing dialogue.
“When the very bastion of the 1964 free speech movement, Berkeley, doesn’t uphold the tenet of free speech, it’s quite astounding,” he remarked pointedly.
A Follow-Up from The February Incident
Post the February debacle, Berkeley administrators sparked a hate crime investigation, signaling ‘overtly antisemitic’ acts and physical altercations. “Such behavior is inadmissible,” declared Berkeley’s chancellor, Carol Christ. Reports of abuse toward Jewish students organizing the event led to a comprehensive probe.
Despite these moves, Bar-Yoshafat mentioned the absence of communication with Berkeley officials regarding the unacceptable occurrences and his subsequent planned visit.
Controversy Among Faculty
Amidst these tensions, the Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine have openly criticized the investigation, urging the school to halt any criminal inquiries into the protesting students. They argue that the questioning of demonstrators, asserted to be peaceful, is unjustified.
Broader Investigations Ensue
The confrontation has further drawn the attention of the Department of Education, launching a federal discrimination investigation following the events that forced Bar-Yoshafat and his wife off campus, adding another layer of scrutiny to UC Berkeley’s handling of free speech and discrimination.
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