That's Not A Minaret--Yet

In fact, it's the Campanile (Sather Tower) on the campus of UC Berkeley. I spent my halcyon undergrad days in the shadow of that monument back when all we had to worry about was the fascist administration restricting our free speech and filthy speech rights. In those glorious days, the only people pushing us around were the campus police.

Today, if you don't want to get battered, pushed around and manhandled you had better get on the pro-Muslim bandwagon--or else. Jewish Berkeley student Jessica Felber learned that the hard and painful way. Last year, Felber dared to show up at a pro-Palestinian rally in Sproul Plaza (at least the location of the demonstrations hasn't changed since the 60s) carrying the highly-provocative sign reading "Israel wants peace." Now how could she not know that such activity would force dedicated young Muslim males to reprimand her--physically, in accordance with Shari'a law?

I guess there were no machetes available, so Husam Zakharia attacked Felber with the only metal weapon immediately available to him--a shopping cart. That may not sound like much, but have you ever had an inattentive fellow shopper accidentally hit you in the ankle with a fully-loaded shopping cart at low speed? I have, and it hurt like hell. But this was neither accidental nor at low speed. It was a weapon, pure and simple. Zakharia is the leader of the Students for Justice in Palestine (but not in Berkeley, apparently).

Felber got a restraining order against Zakharia and several of his fellow thugs, but that is not what makes this case a bit different. California has laws that are lumped under the concept of "failure to protect." If an entity (public or private) has notice (real or constructive) that a danger to life or property exists on its premises, that entity has a duty to protect persons and property from harm. The UC campus police had plenty of notice. More than a few of these pro-Palestinian rallies have turned violent, and in not a single case was the aggressor an opponent of the pro-Palestinian cause. Zakharia himself, along with two of his lieutenants, had previously been charged with assault and battery on the campus at a meeting of Jewish students.

Other cute activities by the SJP had included setting up mock checkpoints ostensibly to represent the "oppressive" Israeli check points, at which they carried fake weapons and ordered each person passing through to name his or her religious affiliation. Those who didn't comply were roughed up. In 2004 and 2007, SJP radicals disrupted speeches by Daniel Pipes, prominent critic of the Palestinian cause, and author Nonie Darwish. There was heckling, pushing and shoving, and shouts of "Death to Zionism" and "Sieg heil."

That's the short list of dangerous activities conducted by the SJP prior to the assault on Felber. The campus police knew or should have known of the SJP's record of escalating violence. They were on actual notice of the pro-Palestinian rally. And they knew that there would be counter-demonstrators (though far fewer in number). Hence--duty to protect. Felber has filed suit for her injuries against the university for its failure to perform its duty to protect. She alleges that the university failed to provide a safe atmosphere and failed to deal with ongoing harassment and intimidation by Muslim and pro-Arab student groups. The suit further alleges that "UC policies fostered and encouraged pro-terrorist incitement, and failed to effectively discipline the Muslim Students Association and SJP for their pro-terrorist programs, goals and conduct, despite having ample notice.

The university has been very lax about doing anything to preserve the peace on campus. But they did so a short time before the Felber attack, which involved the same cast of characters (Muslim Students Association and the SJP). Visiting Israeli Ambassador was harrassed at the Irvine campus, and his speech cut short for safety reasons. The ringleaders are actually facing criminal prosecution there. So obviously, UC has no argument that it didn't know that physical intimidation and actual assault were highly likely if the campus police did not make high-profile appearances at the explosive events.

If Zelber is successful in her lawsuit, which I sincerely hope she is, it may wake up the administration and the campus police to their duty to protect students and visitors on the various campuses, despite their clear sympathies for Muslim causes. My other alma mater, San Francisco State University, is even worse. On several occasions, the campus police have stood idly by while enraged (aren't they always?) Muslim students assaulted and battered Jewish counter-protestors. When the victims complained, the police simply told them that if they didn't want to get hurt, they should just stay away from pro-Palestinian, pro-jihad rallies.