Federal judge strikes down Jew Exclusion Zone at UCLA

A preliminary injunction prohibiting the University of California Los Angeles from barring Jewish students from parts of its campus went into effect on Thursday. U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi on Tuesday issued the injunction calling it unimaginable and abhorrent, that Jewish students found themselves excluded from parts of campus because they refused to denounce their faith.

What happened? Three Jewish students in June sued UCLA administrators after pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campus. Those demonstrations included encampments and calls for the destruction of Israel and for the killing of Jews, according to the lawsuit. The students alleged that UCLA’s faculty did not protect the rights and safety of Jewish students while the protests were taking place. Police disrupted at least one encampment in May, according to Scarsi’s preliminary injunction. But at least one other encampment appeared less than a week after the Jewish students sued the college.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Stew about the hypocritical nature of pro-Palestinian campus protests in Washington, D.C.