Nathaniel Solley/Staff

The campus Jewish Student Union voted Wednesday to deny membership to J Street U at Berkeley, a Jewish student political advocacy group on campus whose application to join the union also was denied two years ago after the group faced accusations of being anti-Israel.

The bylaws of the Jewish Student Union, an umbrella organization for Jewish student groups on campus, stipulate that a member organization must not host speakers who demonize Israel, said Jewish Student Union President Daphna Torbati.

That requirement was a point of contention surrounding J Street U, which advocates a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Much of the disagreement focused on J Street U’s relationship with Breaking the Silence, an Israeli military veterans’ organization that criticizes Israel’s military operations in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, said Elon Rov, a co-chair of J Street U.

“We are not afraid, as American Jews, to address those (difficult issues),” said Shayna Howitt, J Street U’s national communications co-chair. “We are not afraid … to host people who we might disagree with. We’re not afraid to stand up and question how we can best support Israel, because we’re committed to the safety of Israel.”

Breaking the Silence, however, has garnered serious criticism from other Jewish groups that belong to the Jewish Student Union. Torbati said she was concerned the group unfairly disparages Israeli soldiers.

Jewish Student Union members Avi Hecht and David Eliahu said Jewish students with connections to Israel would be alienated if J Street U were allowed to host Breaking the Silence under the Jewish Student Union umbrella.

“For a lot of members … the (Jewish Student Union is) the only place where they can express their love for Israel because of such an anti-Israel campus climate,” Torbati said. “A lot of people have said that they want the (Jewish Student Union) to stay a place they feel comfortable saying they love Israel.”

Hecht added that Breaking the Silence does not offer a fair picture of Israel’s military operations.

“Regardless of J Street’s intents, the effect of bringing a public event like BTS is detrimental to the image of Israel on our campus,” Eliahu said.

J Street U invited Breaking the Silence to campus in fall 2012, and its founder, Yehuda Shaul, will appear on campus again in November.

J Street U last applied to the Jewish Student Union in November 2011 but was rejected for inviting a co-founder of the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement to campus in spring 2010, among other reasons.

Members of J Street U said they believed their relationship with the Jewish Student Union had improved after working with the campus Jewish community against the ASUC Senate’s contentious divestment bill last spring.

“We did want and expect that the Jewish community was finally going to legitimize our voice,” Rov said. “But we were disappointed.”

J Street U needed eight votes from the union board and its member organizations to be admitted but received only two, with eight votes against it and two abstentions, Torbati said.

Howitt said that J Street U is not anti-Israel but that it is critical of Israel’s policies in the disputed territories.

“The best way to support Israel is not by refusing to talk about the politics that are often uncomfortable and scary — it’s by addressing those politics,” Howitt said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, a petition circulated online by J Street U calling for the Jewish community to be more inclusive had collected 166 signatures, including those of Jewish ASUC Senators Grant Fineman and Liza Raffi, according to Rov.

“We’re not appealing the decision,” Rov said. “We want to prove to the wider Jewish community that the decision does not reflect the vision of Jewish students … We think this decision is inconsistent with what Jewish students actually want.”

Contact Connor Grubaugh at cgrubaugh@dailycal.org

Clarification(s):
A previous version of this article implied that a number of students at last Wednesday’s meeting of the Jewish Student Union walked out in response to J Street U’s failure to secure membership. In fact, the vote on J Street U was the last item on the meeting’s agenda, so students left the room at the meeting’s natural conclusion.

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Tony Zhou/File

On Tuesday, the federal government dismissed a complaint that UC Berkeley administrators did not do enough to curb “an environment hostile to Jewish students” as a result of student demonstrations against Israeli policies.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights addressed the complaint after lawyers from a previous and unsuccessful lawsuit decided to continue pursuing their case through alternative channels in July of 2012. The original suit alleged that the university had failed to intervene when demonstrations by the campus organization Students for Justice in Palestine took what the plaintiffs called an anti-Semitic turn.

The contentious demonstrations occurred on Sproul Plaza in 2010 during Israeli Apartheid Week, when SJP students sought to raise awareness about Israel’s policies toward Palestinians. Jessica Felber and Brian Maissy, UC Berkeley alumni who were plaintiffs in the original lawsuit, alleged that the demonstration’s mock checkpoints, along with verbal and physical harassment of Jewish students, violated Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin.

After Felber and Maissey settled with the university, Joel Siegal, a lawyer who argued the plaintiffs’ case, submitted a formal complaint to the Office for Civil Rights making the same allegations.

The office dismissed the complaint after conducting an investigation, stating that “the events did not constitute actionable harassment.”

According to a statement from the Office for Civil Rights, “national origin harassment is unwelcome conduct based on national origin … but in order to establish an hostile environment, conduct must be sufficiently serious such that it limits or denies the student’s ability to participate in, or benefit from, the educational program.”

After looking into matters at UC Berkeley, the office said that “in the university environment, exposure to such robust and discordant expressions, even when personally offensive and hurtful, is a circumstance that a reasonable student in higher education may experience.”

According to Jewish Student Union member Rafi Lurie, UC Berkeley as an institution is not anti-Semitic, but protests on campus can make Jewish students uncomfortable.

“I think that free speech is one of the most important things we have a right to, but there can be a difference between what a protest is supposed to be about and what is actually said,” Lurie said. “Maybe it’s not everyone, but there have been things said in a demonstration setting that are anti-Semitic.”

According to UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof, the campus agreed to consider clarifying its demonstration policies in the settlement of the original legal case but would not curtail student speech.

“As made clear by the Office for Civil Rights and a federal judge, the university has no right or ability to trample on the constitutional rights of students,” Mogulof said.

SJP member Taliah Mirmalek emphasized that student groups of opposite political views are able to have intellectual discussions, regardless of opinion or ethnicity.

“As a UC spokesperson said, criticism of Israel is not necessarily anti-Semitic,” Mirmalek said. “I think that’s really a crucial point.”

Mogulof noted that the campus has multiple preventive programs in place to moderate confrontations between students, such as a team of students and administrators that monitors potential conflicts and an anonymous online incident-reporting system.

“We remain focused on making this university a supportive environment for students, no matter their background, ideology or religion,” Mogulof said.

The Office for Civil Rights also resolved Title IV complaints claiming that Jewish students had been subjected to harassment on the basis of national origin at UC Santa Cruz and UC Irvine.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Siegal, the lawyer, is considering an appeal of the dismissal.

Christine Tyler covers academics and administration. Contact her at ctyler@dailycal.org.

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Jan Flatley-Feldman/Staff

Holding Israeli flags and standing with locked arms, a group of students gathered at noon Thursday at Sather Gate to protest the recently passed ASUC bill pushing for divestment from companies affiliated with the Israeli military.

The protest, organized by a mix of students in various Jewish student groups, started with around 20 people and grew to around 30 as passing students joined. The students linked arms across the central entrance of Sather Gate in protest of the ASUC Senate’s passing of SB 160, a bill that urges the divestment of ASUC and university funds from companies related to the Israeli armed forces.

The bill triggered immense controversy and was passed 11-9 after a 10-hour public comment session.

“We’re protesting against what the ASUC did,” said Baruch Nutovic, a protester and a former editor in chief of the Berkeley Jewish Journal. “We tried to put forward an alternative bill. It was completely rejected.”

On Wednesday, the ASUC tabled SB 160′s alternative bill, SB 158, which called for the ASUC to help end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, acknowledging the harm inflicted on both sides and supporting Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. If passed, SB 158 would also indicate that the ASUC supports a two-state solution.

“We want (SB 160) repealed,” said Jacob Lewis, a protester and former president of Tikvah: Students for Israel. “(The) narrative put forth by this bill is completely ignoring the Israeli side.”

The protesters placed duct tape over their mouths, held Israeli flags and handed out fliers that read, “Do not silence our voices.”

“A lot of people on campus don’t really know what is going on,” said Grant Fineman, a recently elected ASUC senator who participated in the protest. “(There) is a silent majority who don’t know anything about it.”

Nick Slater, who works in the campus financial aid department, was walking by the rally when he stopped to discuss with protesters his opposition to the protest’s message. While he opposed their anti-divestment stance, he said there should be recognition of both sides.

“A lot of Jewish students feel that their stories aren’t being recognized,” Slater said. “I accept that. I want to see a solution which recognizes the interests of Israelis and Palestinians.”

ASUC Senator Sadia Saifuddin, who co-sponsored SB 160, expressed similar sentiments.

“I commend the college and the community for moralizing and being able to express that side (of the debate),” Saifuddin said. “It adds to the diversity at Cal.”

However, Arielle Gabai,  a protester and a former president of the Jewish Student Union, said that the climate on campus remains tense and hostile toward Jewish students and those who oppose divestment.

“It’s unacceptable that Berkeley calls itself such a beautiful, diverse place (that is) accepting of all communities, except for one,” Gabai said.

Contact Tara Hurley at thurley@dailycal.org.

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Michael Tao/File

ASUC President Connor Landgraf announced Tuesday that he will not be vetoing SB 160, a bill calling for the divestment of ASUC funds from companies associated with the Israeli military and encouraging the university to do the same.

In a statement explaining his decision, Landgraf emphasized that he did not support the bill and that it failed to contribute to any constructive dialogue on the issue. However, he ultimately decided not to veto the bill because he felt doing so would only intensify the conflict and lengthen the healing process for the community.

“I think people on both sides may disagree with my decision,” Landgraf said. “I think it’s the best decision for the campus as a whole, and both communities need to reconsider their perspectives on this issue and reconsider the value of having a 10-hour-long senate meeting that tears communities apart.”

In an interview with The Daily Californian’s Senior Editorial Board, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said he personally witnessed the emotional turmoil Landgraf underwent prior to making his decision.

“I met with Connor last night, late in the afternoon, mostly just to listen to him.” Birgeneau said. “He was really, really upset, justifiably so, given the threats against his person. I just tried to console him and give him advice.”

Before announcing his decision, Landgraf said he had been verbally assaulted and threatened. He said he has only received a few angry emails since his announcement was made.

Independent Senator Sadia Saifuddin, a co-sponsor of SB 160, said she commended Landgraf for respecting the senate’s decision.

“This issue is clearly one that affects countless students,” Saifuddin said in an email. “But I truly believe it is possible to build bridges in the wake of the passage of the bill.”

Although Landgraf said he sought to hasten the campus’s healing process with his decision, many on both sides of the issue say they feel even more uneasy following his announcement.

While members of the Jewish community acknowledged the difficulty of Landgraf’s position, many said they are disappointed by his decision. Daphna Torbati, president of the campus Jewish Student Union, said she feels that Landgraf’s decision bolsters a one-sided narrative and silences the pro-Israeli voice.

“Regardless of the veto action, much of the damage has already been done,” Torbati said in an email. “Our community is very hurt and disappointed about the sheer amount of anti-semitic and anti-Israel comments made on the senate floor last week.”

Many pro-divestment students said they remain concerned about the climate on campus and that they continue to feel uneasy about expressing their views. Two weeks before the vote occurred, one pro-divestment student was assaulted on campus, allegedly for saying he believed that Israel was an apartheid state.

“The repression is so severe that we have to fear for our physical safety,” said the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine in a statement. “Our physical safety and our right to open debate are at risk.”

SJP also noted that its members feel that their advocacy has been mislabeled by opponents as hate speech.

ASUC President-elect DeeJay Pepito emphasized that all communities need to remain respectful of opposing opinions on this complex issue.

“As students, we need to take responsibility for our own actions,” Pepito said. “Poor campus climate is not determined by a piece of legislation that the senate passes. Poor campus climate is perpetuated by students using hurtful words and resorting to violent threats towards one another.”

Contact Jennie Yoon at jyoon@dailycal.org.

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Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations San Francisco Bay Area, and Matthew Ross and Liz Jackson of the National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, issued a letter to UC President Mark Yudof, Vice President and General Counsel Charles Robinson and the chancellors of the 10 university campuses upon the dismissal of the lawsuit brought against the university by UC Berkeley alumni Jessica Felber and Brian Maissy.

Felber and Maissy recently dismissed this suit against the university, which claimed the UC system failed to calm hostility towards Jewish students shown in demonstrations in March 2010. According to Billoo, many believe that this lawsuit is part of an ongoing effort to marginalize and chill the efforts of Arab and Muslim students who partake in speech related to the Israel-Palestine issue.

“We call for a more balanced approach, fair treatment, and above all respect for the right of university students and faculty to express their political beliefs, including those critical of Israel,” reads the letter.

Billoo and Ross also emphasized that they do not want the university’s actions to stifle student activism. Their letter stresses that comparisons between anti-Semitism and anti-Israel speech is harmful and inaccurate.

“We see it as a threat on our civil liberties, (and) we see it as very dangerous to conflate anti-Semitism and speech that is critical of Israel,” said Mohamed Haimoud, president of the Cal Muslim Student Association.

As part of the agreement to dismiss the lawsuit, the UC system will consider clarifying its policies regarding campus demonstrations.

“We hope that Jewish students will have the same protection as other minority groups on our campus,” said Arielle Gabai, president of the UC Berkeley Jewish Student Union.

Billoo and Ross’ letter focuses on Yudof’s various campus climate initiatives, citing an open letter published by Yudof in September 2011, as evidence of the unfairness of these initiatives. According to Mohamed Haimoud, president of the Muslim Student Association at UC Berkeley, Yudof’s letter and the lawsuit illustrate the UC administration’s pattern of bias against anti-Israel activism.

Yudof stressed the importance for a campus atmosphere conducive to personal and intellectual growth in his letter.

“As I have said on many occasions, I have and will continue to be among the first to speak out against abusive behavior,” said Yudof in his letter.

According to Seth Brysk, Central Pacific regional director of the Anti Defamation League, the organization is pleased to see that the university is recognizing that some UC campuses have become uncomfortable for Jewish students.

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A conference organized by the UC Berkeley Black Student Union this weekend will include a speech by religious leader Louis Farrakhan — an appearance that has sparked outcry from members of the campus Jewish community because of Farrakhan’s allegedly anti-Semitic comments.

The Afrikan Black Coalition Conference, which will be held at UC Berkeley Friday through Sunday, includes workshops, keynote speakers and social activities that students from across the university will participate in.

But it is the appearance of Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, that has some members of the campus community concerned. Students from the Jewish community in particular oppose his visit due to anti-Semitic, homophobic and other controversial statements they say Farrakhan has made.

“Farrakhan consistently espouses antisemitic conspiracy theories while negating the Jewish people’s right to their religion and their land,” said Jacob Lewis, co-president of the campus Jewish student group Tikvah, in a blog post. ”Farrakhan’s hatred cannot be tolerated. It is unfathomable that the BSU has no issue in inviting such an abjectly offensive speaker to campus.”

The Anti-Defamation League, a prominent civil rights group that works to combat anti-Semitism, has also criticized various comments made by Farrakhan in the past.

Salih Muhammad, chair of the campus Black Student Union, said the speakers for the conference were chosen based on who the union felt would provide “a sense of self-determination” to conference attendees.

“It’s not about any individual speaker,” Muhammad said. He added that the conference is limited to students who register beforehand and that Farrakhan will therefore not be addressing the entire campus community but only a particular group of students.

“Those students are well in their right to subject themselves to anything he says,” Muhammad said.

The issue was discussed at last week’s ASUC Senate meeting when SQUELCH! Senator Noah Ickowitz pulled a bill supporting funding the conference. Ickowitz read several quotes from Farrakhan and said they were “hate speech in its most raw form.”

However, members of the Black Student Union and some of the senators pointed out that the bill itself did not mention Farrakhan’s name.

“This bill is strictly a funding bill,” said CalSERVE Senator Kevin Williams at the meeting.

Despite concerns, the senate passed the bill unanimously to provide $1,340 in funding for the conference.

According to Jewish Student Union President Arielle Gabai, the union hopes to meet with members of the Black Student Union and Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard to have a dialogue this week about the issue.

“Louis Farrakhan is someone who will make people on this campus feel isolated, hated, demeaned and silenced,” Ickowitz said, though he chose to vote for the bill because he did not want to deprive the entire conference of funding.

Courtney Moulds covers student government.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Afrikan Black Coalition Conference would be funded $1,500 by the ASUC Senate. In fact, the conference was funded $1,340 by the senate.

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Eugene W. Lau/Staff

Well over a hundred UC Berkeley students, faculty and visitors arrived on campus Thursday night to listen to Congressman Barney Frank speak about Israel and its relationship with the United States.

The event – sponsored by the ASUC, the Jewish Student Union and the Tikvah Students for Israel – began with Frank’s 30-minute speech, followed by an open question-and-answer session in front of an audience that filled 155 Dwinelle to its maximum capacity.

“I’m a man of the left,” Frank said. “It is in that context that I am a strong supporter of Israel.”

Frank – a Democrat who represents Massachusetts – is the former chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services and announced in November that he will retire from Congress at the conclusion of his term in 2013.

“Congressman Frank is a well-respected politician,” said junior Jacob Lewis, co-president of the Tikvah Students for Israel. “What he’s done in his career appeals to Berkeley students, and he’s a champion of many progressive causes.”

Frank specifically touched on Israel’s democratic ideals, immigration policies, military and tumultuous and sometimes violent relationship with Arab countries.

“The Israeli government has been a wholly democratic one from the beginning,” Frank said. “It is one of the freest democracies in the world.”

Frank attributed the primary reason for Israel’s 64 years of war to his belief that Palestinians are unwilling to make concessions.

“Israel has ceded more territory after war than any other country… I do believe Israel should be cutting back on settlements,” Frank said.

Prior to the event, Frank attended a dinner at Berkeley Hillel with members of the ASUC and executive members of the Jewish Student Union and Tikvah Students for Israel.

“He was able to level with other students and hold a discussion with us,” UC Berkeley Junior Michelle Cohn said. “It was great for him to come here and acknowledge the Jewish culture.”

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Congressman Barney Frank will visit UC Berkeley Feb. 23 to speak on the relationship between the United States and Israel.

The prominent Massachusetts Democrat has a long history of supporting civil rights causes and came out as openly gay in 1987. He is the former chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, and announced in November that he will retire from Congress at the conclusion of his term in 2013.

The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. in 155 Dwinelle and will be sponsored by the ASUC, Jewish Student Union and the Tikvah campus student group.

“Because he is a prominent progressive, Congressman Frank’s insight on the importance of the US-Israel relationship is especially relevant,” said Arielle Gabai, president of the Jewish Student Union, in an email. “We look forward to the opportunity to engage with a Congressman who shares our commitment to liberal values and Israel.”

Correction(s):
A previous version of this post stated that Barney Frank was the first openly gay member of Congress. In fact, Gerry Studds was the first openly gay member of Congress.

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The campus’s branch of J Street U — an organization whose stated values are pro-Israel and pro-peace — drew heavy criticism from union member clubs who stated that it acted contrary to those values, resulting in the club failing to gain entrance into the union.

During the Nov 16. meeting at which the vote to determine whether to admit J Street U to the union took place, Tikvah, a campus club that advocates Zionism — the movement of the Jewish people for self-determination in Israel — denounced J Street U for allegedly failing to uphold its stated values through actions such as inviting Assaf Sharon, founding member of the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement, to campus to speak in the spring of 2010.

Tikvah members said at the meeting that they consider Sharon to be anti-Israel, but J Street U argued that Sharon’s beliefs are beneficial to a solution to conflict in Israel.

“As a committed pro-Israel organization, the Jewish Student Union has the responsibility to ensure that those claiming to represent our community support the Jewish State,” said Tikvah co-president Jacob Lewis in a statement posted on Tikvah’s website on Dec. 7. “Because (J Street U) has a history of acting outside of these goals, the organization fell far short of the votes needed to gain the (union’s) support.”

J Street U needed two-thirds of the vote — with voters including the union board as well as member organizations — for admittance, but it received only nine, with 10 votes against and two abstaining.

Members of the campus’s J Street U chapter said they believe the union is censoring discussion on Israel by excluding their club from membership in a Dec. 7 op-ed posted on the Jewish Daily Forward’s website.

In the op-ed, UC Berkeley students and J Street U members Simone Zimmerman, Jeremy Elster, Isaiah Kirshner-Breen and Alon Mazor said they have been wrongly accused of being anti-Israel and simply wish to be part of the larger Israel discussion.

“The Berkeley (union’s) vote is emblematic of a larger trend,” the four said in the op-ed. “Even as pillars of the American Jewish establishment recognize the need to include J Street U and others like us in the broadening tent of pro-Israel advocacy, those on the right double their efforts to shut us out.”

Leaders of both student organizations could not be reached for comment.

Amid heavy criticism from a variety of Jewish publications, the directors of Berkeley Hillel, the union’s sponsoring organization, encouraged the union to reconsider its vote in a Dec. 8 letter to j., the Jewish news weekly of Northern California.

In the letter, the organization’s board president, Barbara Davis, and executive director, Rabbi Adam Naftalin-Kelman, wrote that while they respect the union’s ability to decide for itself, they support J Street U just as much as they do other Israel-focused groups.

“Berkeley Hillel is committed to creating a pluralistic community that embraces the diversity of our Jewish tradition,” the letter states. “At a time when Jewish students are seeking community, we are careful not to exclude Jewish students, and we embrace the wisdom of our namesake Hillel by embodying the value of an inclusive community.”

The union has not announced whether it will vote again on J Street U’s admission.

Christopher Yee covers communities.

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