Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Suit Charges University of California With Tolerating Dangerous Anti-Semitic Climate

Today's Daily Californian reports on a lawsuit filed in a California federal district court by a UC Berkeley graduate against Berkeley and the University system over a series of anti-Semitic incidents.  The lawsuit was filed by Jessica Felber who was co-president of Tikvah, the campus Zionist group. The suit says she was assaulted last year by Husam Zakharia, a Berkeley alumnus who was a member of Students for Justice in Palestine.  Zakharia was arrested but never charged in the incident. Felber's complaint says that a number of incidents over the past ten years have led to a dangerous anti-Semitic climate on UC campuses and that the UC system has failed to adopt policies to address the problem.  UC says the charges are unfounded while Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) call the suit an assault on free speech. The suit comes as SJP begins its "Israel Apartheid Week" on campus.

UPDATE: Here is the First Amended Complaint in the case, filed May 19, 2011.