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BREAKING NEWS: Federal court orders UCLA to stop helping anti-Semitic activists attack Jews

BREAKING NEWS: Federal court orders UCLA to stop helping anti-Semitic activists attack Jews

WASHINGTON A federal district court in Los Angeles ordered today the University of California, Los Angeles, to stop allowing anti-Semitic agitators and to support them in banning Jews from accessing large parts of the UCLA campus.

In Frankel vs. Regents of the University of CaliforniaBecket and co-advisor Clement & Murphy PLLC filed suit against UCLA after it helped a group of activists set up encampments where they harassed Jewish students and denied them access to classes, the library, and other key parts of campus. UCLA reinforced these zones—both with metal barriers and by expelling Jewish students—but took no effective steps to ensure safe passage for Jewish students. In response, UCLA refused to make any commitment to protect its Jewish students, claiming that Jewish students had nothing to fear when classes resumed in the fall.

Today, the court joined the students and declared: “In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, in the City of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from parts of the UCLA campus because they refused to give up their faith. This fact is so unimaginable and so repugnant to our constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom that it bears repeating: Jewish students were excluded from parts of the UCLA campus because they refused to renounce their faith. UCLA does not deny this. Instead, UCLA claims that it has no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was engineered by third-party protesters. But under constitutional principles, UCLA may deny some students access to religious services if it knows that other students are excluded on religious grounds, regardless of who engineered the exclusion.”

“No student should ever have to fear being excluded from campus because they are Jewish,” said Yitzchok Frankel, a rising third-year law student at UCLA“I am grateful that the court has ordered UCLA to put an end to this shameful anti-Jewish behavior.”

Yitzchok Frankel is a law student and father of four. Last semester, he was subjected to anti-Semitic harassment simply for wearing a kippah. Because of the Jewish exclusion zone, he had to abandon his usual routes around campus. Frankel detailed how UCLA’s ongoing failures forced him to cancel plans with his family on campus and forgo the opportunity to mentor incoming Jewish students on campus during orientation week. Eden Shemuelian, another law student, has also had to avoid using campus facilities and attending law school orientation events because of UCLA’s continued failure to ensure the safety and equal access of Jewish students. Today’s ruling says students and others should be allowed to return to campus without facing such anti-Semitic bigotry.

“Shame on UCLA for allowing anti-Semitic thugs to terrorize Jews on campus,” said Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and student advocate“Today’s ruling says that UCLA’s policy of helping anti-Semitic activists attack Jews is not only morally wrong, but also a gross violation of the Constitution. UCLA should stop fighting the Constitution and start protecting Jews on campus.”

Today’s injunction is the first in the country against a university that has allowed an anti-Semitic camp.

The ruling takes effect on August 15. UCLA is expected to appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

For more information or to schedule an interview with a Becket attorney, contact Ryan Colby at[email protected] or 202-349-7219.

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