UC Regent says levels of campus antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate are 'absolutely disproportionate'
University of California regent John A. Pérez said the types of incidents and spikes are 'vastly different'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A member of the University of California's Board of Regents says the antisemitism levels on university campuses are "absolutely disproportionate" to that of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hatred since the Israel-Hamas conflict began generating intense divides last October.
"The antisemitism is absolutely disproportionate. We reject both," John A. Pérez told Politico in an interview published Sunday.
"We reject all forms of hatred. But what we’re not seeing is massive student protests targeting every Muslim-identified student, asking students of Muslim or Arabic background to denounce or renounce something that they have no part in. The numbers and the spikes are vastly different, and the types of incidences are vastly different."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTER DERAILS DINNER AT UC BERKELEY LAW SCHOOL DEAN'S HOME, REFUSES TO LEAVE
Anti-Israel protesters gather near People's Park in solidarity with those evicted from the park and to protest Israeli attacks on Gaza, in Berkeley, California, United States on January 7, 2024. (Tayfun Cokun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Adding context to the conversation is an anti-Israel protest that upended a dinner for graduating students at UC Berkeley law school dean Erwin Chemerinsky's Oakland, California home last week, the disturbance indicative of the divide generated by sparring in the Middle East.
Malak Afaneh, a Palestinian American law student at the school who serves as co-president of Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine, approached the dinner in the home's garden and attempted to lecture about the lives lost in Gaza as a result of the conflict.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Afaneh was confronted by Cemerinsky and his wife, Professor Catherine Fisk, who both repeatedly pleaded with her to leave the property.
UC Berkeley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky's Oakland, California home became a site of contention last week when a pro-Palestinian student arrived at a celebratory dinner for students and began protesting on behalf of those in Gaza. (iStock)
The situation escalated into discussions about First Amendment rights and Afaneh claiming she was assaulted by Fisk.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pérez, a former Berkeley student, told POLITICO he believes the students siding with Afaneh "overstepped a line" by disrupting the private event.
"They telegraphed their opposition by calling for a boycott [in advance of the event] — that was fine, that was completely within their rights. But they did it in a horrific way, by employing an antisemitic caricature of Dean Chemerinsky," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pérez also stated that there have "absolutely" been spikes in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hatred on campuses since the Israel-Hamas war began, but the prevalence of activities targeting Jewish students.
"We’re not seeing where we’re attacking every Muslim student, because we take issue with what Hamas did on Oct. 7," he told the outlet.
"One can debate the space between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. But one would have to have serious blinders not to recognize that what’s happening on college campuses, UC's included, is a series of activities that are targeting Jewish students because of their identities, making them feel unsafe and apart from the rest of the community in a way that really should have no place in our society and no place on our college campuses."
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He additionally tied in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a war waged since early 2022 with no end in sight, noting that even students of Russian heritage are not met with the same vitriol as Jewish students.
Fox News' Kyle Morris contributed to this report.