Feds launch investigation of anti-Semitism at Berkeley

By Kate Anderson Daily Caller News Foundation The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it is launching an investigation into the University of California Berkeley Law School due to concerns of anti-zionism. Gabriel Groisman, an attorney and partner at LSN Law, P.A., and Arsen Ostrovsky, an Israel-based attorney, and CEO of…

The post Feds launch investigation of anti-Semitism at Berkeley appeared first on WND.

(Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash)

By Kate Anderson
Daily Caller News Foundation

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it is launching an investigation into the University of California Berkeley Law School due to concerns of anti-zionism.

Gabriel Groisman, an attorney and partner at LSN Law, P.A., and Arsen Ostrovsky, an Israel-based attorney, and CEO of The International Legal Forum filed a complaint with the OCR on Nov. 18, according to the Cleveland Jewish News. The complaint came as a result of multiple student groups adopting Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions bylaws associated with the pro-Palestine movement, that banned pro-Israel speakers from their chapters.

The OCR agreed Tuesday to conduct an official investigation into the “hostile environment” at U.C. Berkeley Law, according to the Cleveland Jewish News.

“Whether the University failed to respond appropriately in the fall 2022 semester to notice from Jewish law students, faculty, and staff that they experienced a hostile environment at the law school based on their shared Jewish ancestry when University-recognized student organizations passed a bylaw against inviting speakers who support ‘Zionism, the state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine,'” the OCR stated in the letter.

Ostrovsky told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the notion that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are not related was false.

“Zionism is an integral and core component of Jewish identity. So in other words when they use the excuse saying ‘no Zionists [are] welcome’ what in effect they are actually saying that no Jews are welcome,” he stated.

WND is now on Trump's Truth Social! Follow us @WNDNews

In August, students from the student chapter Law Students for Justice in Palestine at Berkeley Law passed bylaws banning pro-Israel speakers from being invited to events and required its board members to attend a “Palestine 101” training, according to the chapter’s Instagram. The bylaws were passed by nine other student chapters on campus.

Ostrovsky explained that he hoped the investigation would soundly reject the antisemitism brought about by the inclusion of the new bylaws.

“First and foremost, we would like to see a revocation of the bylaws in question and [a statement] explaining their adoption was discriminatory and antisemitic,” Ostrovsky noted. “And we also would like to hear the university communicate a clear statement that anti-Zionism is antisemitism and that this is something they all take seriously moving forward.”

In addition, Ostrovsky said they hoped the university would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. The definition was created in 2016 by the committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial in Budapest, according to the IHRA.

“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities,” the IHRA states.

U.C. Berkeley Law School, the OCR and Berkeley LSJP did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The “Climate Change Cult.” The “Anti-Racism Cult.” The “Cult of Wokeness.” The “LGBTQ Cult” and its predatory offspring targeting America’s children, the “Transgender Cult.” The “Cult of Abortion.” The “COVID Cult.” The “Cult of Globalism.” “TikTok Cults.” Every month the list grows.

To right-thinking Americans attempting to make sense of a nation seemingly gone mad, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the irrational, deranged – and often demonic – leftwing political and cultural movements currently capturing the minds of millions of Americans are nothing short of full-fledged cults.

Although the high priesthood of all these leftwing religious cults – i.e., university professors, academics and other Marxist ideologues and activists – may be true believers, the people actually wielding REAL POWER do not believe any of it. To them, these leftwing cults conveniently serve to disguise and distract “the rabble” from what the leader class is REALLY up to, which is the pursuit of ever more power, wealth and glory for themselves, and a total transformation of America and the world.

All of this and much more is explored in a powerful, insightful and absolutely unique way in the latest issue of WND’s acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, titled “HOLY WAR: Defeating the growing cult of leftism and its total war on Christianity.”

SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!

The post Feds launch investigation of anti-Semitism at Berkeley appeared first on WND.