On September 24, 2024, protesters disrupted a talk by Simcha Rothman, a far-right member of the Israeli Knesset, at the University of California Berkeley School of Law, forcing the talk to be moved to Zoom.
The law school’s chapter of the Federalist Society had invited Rothman, one of the architects of a controversial judicial reform bill, to speak at an event titled “Restoring Democracy: The Debate Over Judicial Reform in Israel.” In protest, members of the group UnXeptable, created by Israeli expats seeking to bolster a democratic Israel, apparently bought most of the tickets to the event. Members of UnXeptable arrived at the event holding photos of the Israeli hostages abducted by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2024. Prior to the start of the event, they began arguing with Rothman over his role in supporting the hostages. As Rothman began speaking, members of UnXeptable also began shouting “Go home!” and “Shame.”
In addition, a group of pro-Palestinian protesters also attended the event, holding signs showing the names of Palestinians killed in Gaza. They initially shouted at Rothman, yelling “Free, Free Palestine” and “Israel is a terrorist state,” and then began to protest UnXeptable, stating, “The counterprotesters, liberal Zionists, support the genocide in Gaza.”
As the shouting continued, someone pulled a fire alarm, and security escorted Rothman out of the room. The law school emailed ticket holders that the event would resume a couple of hours later, on Zoom.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about efforts to shut down a campus discussion by members of the local community. While community members have the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, including the right to protest content and events with which they disagree, they must exercise those rights responsibly and with respect for the free expression rights and academic freedom of other members of the higher education community and society at large. Attempts to shut down campus events and discourse undermine academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/09/30/protesters-berkeley-law-force-israeli-speaker-offstage
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/israeli-lawmaker-forced-off-stage-at-uc-berkeley-19798255.php
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-09-25/ty-article/.premium/architect-of-israeli-judicial-coup-hounded-off-stage-by-odd-mix-of-protesters-at-berkeley/00000192-26ce-dff0-a5f7-3edf462e0000