Video footage captured the moment a large crowd began banging on the glass doors of a University of California-Berkeley theater after an IDF soldier was invited to speak.
Jewish attendees were forced to evacuate and head to an undisclosed location after hundreds of rioters stormed the event Monday night, while one student says someone spat at him shouting, “You Jew.”
The event, ‘Israel at War: Fighting Lies’, was scheduled to be organized by IDF soldier Ran Bar-Yoshafat, who served in Gaza but was interrupted by protesters before it could begin.
Footage shows students violently banging on glass doors, chanting “intifada, intifada” and accusing Bar-Yoshafat of “genocide.” School security then ordered attendees to immediately evacuate through a back door.
The rioters were members of UC Berkeley’s ‘Bears for Palestine,’ a group that had previously expressed support for Hamas’ actions and ‘denounced the framing of Israel as a victim’ hours after the terrorist organization’s attack.
“Berkeley is on the wrong side of history and is no longer a safe place for Jews,” Bar-Yoshafat told the The daily cable.
Video footage captured the moment a large crowd is seen banging on the glass doors of the University of California-Berkeley theater after an IDF soldier was invited to speak.
The event, “Israel at War: Fighting the Lies,” was scheduled to be hosted by IDF soldier Ran Bar-Yoshafat.
Jewish attendees were forced to evacuate and head to an undisclosed location after hundreds of rioters stormed the event on Monday night.
Bar-Yoshafat, who was asked to enter the school wearing a hat to hide his identity, said it was about protecting freedom of expression, regardless of politics or religion.
“I don’t think this about the IDF, the Jews or even Israel, but that they lack Western values like freedom of expression,” Bar-Yoshafat told The Daily Wire. “To them I am guilty until proven innocent.”
Before his arrival, Bar-Yoshafat said he had been assured that security would allow him to speak, despite those protesting the event, which has been rescheduled several times for security reasons.
But hundreds of violent protesters, many of them members of ‘Bears for Palestine’, forced the event to be cancelled. One said they spat on him while calling him “Jew.”
Despite the chaos, Bar-Yoshafat told the Daily Wire he intended to go ahead with the event, but school officials told attendees to evacuate.
“Instead of giving us more security, they gave a reward to those who were violent,” he said. “They basically said that those who knock on doors and spit on Jews are allowed to continue, but I had to leave even though I was just speaking peacefully.”
Footage shows students violently banging on glass doors, chanting “intifada, intifada” and accusing Bar-Yoshafat of “genocide.”
School security then ordered attendees to immediately evacuate through a back door.
The group “Bears for Palestine” at the University of California at Berkeley expressed support for Hamas’ actions on Saturday.
“I felt very bad for these children because they were afraid,” Bar-Yoshafat told the outlet. ‘The girls were crying about the attack and I think the boy who was spat on was very shocked.
“I don’t think the students anticipated there would be so many violent people, they thought they would just sing outside.”
‘Bears for Palestine,’ an anti-Israel group on campus, announced their plan to shut down the event on their Instagram on Sunday.
“Shut it up: Genocidal murderers outside Berkeley,” the graphic read, along with a photo of Bar-Yoshafat with red-eyes photoshopped.
“In October 2023, Ran Bar-Yoshafat was serving in the IOF participating in the destruction of Gaza and the extermination of the Palestinians,” the caption read, referring to the IDF as the Israeli Occupation Forces. “This individual is dangerous.”
“Ran Bar-Yoshafat has Palestinian blood on his hands,” he continued. “He has committed crimes against humanity, denies genocide and we will not allow this event to continue.”
In October, the group ‘Bears for Palestine’ at the University of California at Berkeley expressed its support for the actions of Hamas and ‘denounced that Israel was considered a victim’ hours after the terrorist organization’s attack left more than 1,400 dead. , including 25 Americans.
The group was founded by Hatem Bazian, a controversial professor of Asian American and Asian diaspora studies who has repeatedly justified terrorist attacks against Israel and the Intifada (uprising) in the United States.
The group then organized a vigil for the “martyrs in Palestine”, promoting Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) calls for a “Day of Resistance”.
Bears for Palestine, named after the school’s mascot, issued the statement saying it “unequivocally denounces the occupation and its military government” and supports “the resistance, the liberation movement, and unquestionably supports the Uprising.”
The group will organize a vigil for the “martyrs in Palestine” and has promoted SJP calls for a “Day of Resistance” on university campuses in support of Hamas attacks.
Bears for Palestine, named after the school’s mascot, issued the statement
Organizations from other schools in the state that also signed the letter include several UCLA groups.
The statement was signed by several other groups on the notoriously leftist campus, including Koreans for Decolonization and Central Americans for Empowerment.
‘We invariably reject that Israel is presented as a victim. While to demonize and condemn indigenous resistance is to eclipse the decades of oppression, ethnic cleansing and destruction of the Palestinian people,’ said his letter, signed by 50 other groups.
‘We echo the call to action for all Arabs and Palestinians in the diaspora to rise up and support the liberation of our occupied people. From the river to the sea, we will continue to support the resistance until we can return to a unified Palestine. Glory to Palestine, glory to the resistance and glory to our martyrs.’
The statement was signed by 51 student organizations in total, from universities across the country, including several other groups on the notoriously leftist campus, such as Koreans for Decolonization, Jewish Students for Palestine, the Union of Iraqi Students and Central Americans for Empowerment .
Organizations from other schools in the state that also signed the letter include several UCLA groups, such as the Arab Students Union and the Asia Pacific Coalition.
Several SJP chapters from other schools in California and other states also supported the statement. Students for Justice in Palestine was founded at UC Berkeley in 2001 and has more than 200 chapters in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand.