New report details heinous, rampant antisemitism at UCLA  

In the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel last year, the vitriol directed at UCLA’s Jewish students and staff defies belief.  

The Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israel Bias at UCLA submitted a report on Oct. 16, with harrowing accounts of hatred and violence against the Jewish community.  

When surveying students and staff, the task force found two-thirds of Jewish Bruins said antisemitism is a problem at UCLA. Three-quarters also said antisemitism was taken less seriously than other types of discrimination. 

Overall, there were over 100 reported incidents of physical violence or threats. Half of students report verbal assaults or discrimination from teaching assistants, and even more – 75% – from peers. Moreover, 41% of survey respondents said they have considered leaving UCLA due to antisemitism.  

In the free response portion of the survey, Jewish students and staff shared stories of heinous anti-Israel bias. Several compared their experiences to Nazi Germany – an apt parallel, since many incidents of vandalism included swastikas.  

“Today, continuing to allow campus groups and faculty to promote propaganda vilifying Israel, Israelis, and Jews, (e.g. by saying Israel is committing a genocide, which is so obviously untrue to anyone who looks at facts in the region, and especially in a context of worldwide wars and countries that are committing actual genocides), in what is a modern-day blood-libel, the antisemitic/anti-Israel/anti-Zionist campus climate is essentially repeating the German Universities climate that preceded WWII Nazi Germany,” wrote one respondent. “I would call that a very REAL and SERIOUS problem.” 

“Look at the [videos] and pictures online. Multiple assaults, ‘death to Israel’, ‘Die you f***ing Jew’, ‘Israel=Nazis’, ‘burn Tel Aviv’, multiple swastikas,” said another. “I didn’t imagine I would see s*** like this after the 1940s, let alone in 2024 America – but I did! Here, at UCLA.” 

“My synagogue was spray painted with swastikas,” recalled a third. “Had classmates and TAs make holocaust jokes and prof discuss how the UC regents were ‘a bunch of jewish pigs.’”  

A fourth student recalled grieving the deaths of family and friends while facing threats to their own life.  

“Right after October 7th, which was an awful day for me and my people, where I lost multiple family members, friends, and colleagues from Israel I was going around on campus to my classes and was faced by protests calling for death to Israel, long live the intifada, slurs and other hate forms just since I was wearing my Star of David,” the student wrote. 

“Later it got worse as I am a considerably known student on campus as I got threats in person and over social media due to my support of my country.” 

The task force proposed five solutions to lessen antisemitism and anti-Israel bias at UCLA:  

• Increase education and training  

• Improve the complaint and reporting system  

• Have better enforcement of laws and school polices  

• Clarify those laws and policies  

• And “implement new state laws and other actions to protect and support Jewish and Israeli community members.”  

Meanwhile, the university faces lawsuits for its own alleged antisemitism, including allowing anti-Israel activists to create a “Jew Exclusion Zone” and canceling an event with a pro-Israel speaker.