Kayla Asemanfar

Overview

Kayla Asemanfar (Parisa Kayla Asemanfar) participated in the violent disruption of a pro-Israel event at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), alongside activists with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UCLA.

As of October 2018, Asemanfar was listed as a Project Coordinator and Leader with the Southwest Asian and North Afrikan Los Angeles (SWANA LA). She also volunteered with SWANA LA Connect - a joint program with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), in 2017.

As of October 2018, Asemanfar’s LinkedIn said she was a Student Worker at the UCLA Undergraduate Information Technology since September 2015, and a Technical Service Intern at The Climate Registry since July 2017.

Also as of October 2018, Asemanfar’s WayUp account said she was a 2018 graduate of UCLA, with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science.

SJP at UCLA - Violent Disruption of Pro-Israel Campus Event

On May 17, 2018, Asemanfar [00:41:44] along with SJP at UCLA activists and affiliates disrupted [00:00:47] an event hosted by Students Supporting Israel (SSI) on the UCLA campus. The event, titled "Indigenous People Unite," provided a forum for Jewish, Kurdish, and Armenian indigenous communities “to share the stories of their people.”

The disruptors were joined by activists from the SJP at UCLA Alumni Association (SJP at UCLA Alumni),as well as activists from the group Southwest Asian and North Afrikan Los Angeles (SWANA LA) and activists from the off-campus Antifa group Revolution Club L.A./ Refuse Fascism Los Angeles.

Approximately 41 minutes into the lecture, SJP at UCLA members and Antifa activists invaded [00:41:16] the forum. Protester Arman Adamian marched toward the speakers and tore the Armenian flag off the wall. Adamian also grabbed [00:41:24] the Armenian panelist’s notes off the speakers’ table and leaned aggressively over the seated panelist.

Other protesters chanted [00:43:01]“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!” as well as [00:42:29] “We don’t want two states, we want ‘48!” and [00:45:08] “1,2,3,4 Open up the prison doors; 5,6,7,8 Israel is a terrorist state!!”

After Arman Adamian verbally assaulted [00:41:23] the SSI speakers, tore the Armenian flag off the wall and appropriated it [00:46:08], Asemanfar joined [00:46:47] Adamian in displaying the stolen Armenian flag next to a Palestinian one.

When the Armenian SSI panelist who owned the Armenian flag told [00:46:51] Asemnfar it was his and asked her to return it, Asemanfar argued [00:47:04] with him and refused to return his flag.

The Israeli flag was also ripped from the wall and protestor Natalie Kamajian, when asked to relinquish the flag, refused [00:46:52] to do so.

Campus security eventually escorted [00:50:05] the protesters out of the classroom where the event was held, into an adjacent hallway. There, the protesters pounded [00:521:2348] on the door to the classroom and continued [00:08:32] chanting.

Later, when the door was reopened, the protesters continued their disturbance, screaming [00:33:15] obscenities, using [00:14:27] a megaphone and physically blocking [00:13:52] the door from being closed.

Following the disruption, students attending the SSI event reported feeling intimidated and fearing for their physical safety. SSI chapter president Hirmand Sarafian, the Armenian panelist, reported that he felt physically threatened “throughout the whole thing, from the beginning to the end.”

SJP at UCLA reportedly denied initiating or having “a significant hand in organizing the demonstration” and claimed that “none of our board members attended the event.”

However, SJP at UCLA’s 2018 primary signatory Robert Gardner was filmed taking a leadership role in the disruption, alongside SJP at UCLA signatory Gurutam Thockchom, as well as fellow SJP at UCLA activists Burkan Aranki, Sarena Khasawneh, John Abughattas, and Tamara Khoury.

On May 18, 2018, both SWANA-LA and the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) in Austin specifically praised SJP at UCLA and SJP at UCLA Alumni’s role in disrupting the SSI event. PSC is an alternative name for SJP.

On May 24, 2018, UCLA chancellors Jerry Kang and Monroe Gorden published anofficial denunciation of the incident in the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s campus newspaper.

The chancellors’ statement condemned the intimidation of panelists and audience members and declared that the university would “refer all evidence of wrongdoing” of non-UCLA students “to local prosecutors to determine whether they have broken the law.”

A June 14, 2018 article, published by the Jewish Journal, reported that half a dozen students said they would file formal complaints against the disruptors for “criminal disruption of a meeting, as well as disturbing the peace and conspiracy.”

An August 8, 2018 article in the Algemeiner reported that the Los Angeles city prosecutor was investigating the disruption, and had “requested additional investigative materials from the UCLA Police.”

SJP

SJP is a student organization engaged in anti-Israel activity on North American college and university campuses.

The first chapter of SJP was founded in 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley by Professor Hatem Bazian. Bazian has spread classic anti-Semitism, reportedly promoted religious anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group. In 2004, Bazian called for “intifada” in America.

SJP organizes anti-Israel campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks, often in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Muslim Students Association (MSA) campus chapters.

SJP has been a major force in pushing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campuses. Chapters have initiated dozens of BDS resolutions in student governments, which have been proposed on or around Jewish holidays, a time when many Jewish students are off-campus.

SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, disrupted pro-Israel campus events and demonized pro-Israel campus organizations.

Chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for numerous terrorists and whitewashed terrorism.