Sewit Beraki

On August 6, 2022, Berkeley LSJP amended its group constitution to include a bylaw banning pro-Israel speakers from participating in club events. The bylaw explicitly excluded [p. 3] any speaker who had “expressed and continued to hold views…in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine.”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.

Berkeley LSJP claimed that it created the bylaw “in the interest of protecting the safety and welfare of Palestinian students on campus.”

The United States Department of State defines as one example of contemporary anti-Semitism: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” As of November 2022, the U.S. was one of 35 countries to have adopted the same definition.

Berkeley Law student Malak Afaneh was the president of Berkeley LSJP when the group adopted its bylaw. She has spread hatred of Zionists and has expressed support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group, which has a history of suicide bombings, stabbing attacks on civilians and airplane hijackings.

After Berkeley LSJP adopted the bylaw, it attempted to get other Berkeley Law student groups to also adopt the bylaw. The bylaw committed a group to not “host, sponsor, or promote” pro-Israel events and to mandate its leaders to participate in Berkeley LSJP’s “Palestine 101” training course “to learn ways to create a safe and inclusive space for Palestinian students and students that are in the support of the liberation of Palestine.”

On August 21, 2022, Berkeley LSJP celebrated a “BDS VICTORY!!” on Instagram, announcing [slide 2] that eight other Berkeley Law student groups had adopted the anti-Semitic bylaw. The post said: “LSJP is calling ALL student organizations at Berkeley Law to take an anti-racist and anti-settler colonial stand and adopt the bylaw into their constitutions ASAP!”

The eight groups included Berkeley Law’s Muslim Student’s Association (BLMSA), Middle Eastern and North African Law Students Association (MENALSA) and the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA).

The UC Berkeley School of Law Faculty said that groups adopting the bylaw “impermissibly exclude a large majority of the UC Berkeley School of Law faculty from participating in the work of these organizations.” Berkeley Law alumni, Jewish student groups and faculty at other law schools also condemned the bylaw as anti-Semitic.

On August 25, 2022, Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky sent an email to student leaders criticizing the bylaw as “troubling” since the bylaw “would exclude about…90 percent or more of our Jewish students.” He wrote: “Indeed, taken literally, this would mean that I could not be invited to speak because I support the existence of Israel…”

On August 27, 2022, the Jewish Students Association at Berkeley Law (JSABL) wrote an open letter on Medium, where they said: “our organization was one of the few affinity groups not contacted” to adopt the bylaw.

On August 29, 2022, Berkeley LSJP wrote a statement on Instagram to the Berkeley Law community criticizing Cherminsky’s email. Berkeley SJP accused Israel of “genocide and apartheid” and of “murdering, disabling, and displacing Palestinian families day and night.” They also said: “Apartheid is a crime against humantiy [sic]...”

On October 6, 2022, Berkeley Chancellor Carol T. Christ criticized the Berkeley LSJP bylaw as “regrettable,” and in “direct opposition to our essential Principles of Community…”

On October 21, 2022, Berkeley LSJP published a “Statement of Solidarity” with the other eight student groups that adopted the bylaw, claiming that they were subject to “baseless allegations of antisemitism.” The first group to sign the statement was the Student Association at Berkeley Law (SABL), the Berkeley Law student government.

The 169 individuals and groups that signed the statement included various SJP chapters, BDS groups and branches of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), another anti-Israel group. Also among the signatories was Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun), an NGO that spreads awareness about terrorists in Israeli jail and whose leadership includes three PFLP members [pp. 22–28].

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.

BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.

The movement’s most notable achievement has been infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents and pro-terror activism on campus.

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 Student 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.