Anti-Israel protesters proud to silence free speech at UC Irvine

Last updated on: May 24, 2016 at 10:24 pm by Mark Meckler

Anti-Israel protesters proud to silence free speech at UC Irvine 2016-05-24T22:24:44-06:00 Mark Meckler

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A recent incident at the University of California Irvine is yet another example of how some students believe opposing ideas aren’t covered under free speech.

It happened last week during a screening of the film Beneath the Helmet, about five Israeli soldiers, that was organized by the campus group Students Supporting Israel. The campus’s anti-Israeli group, Students for Justice in Palestine, interrupted the film, shouting obscenities and blocking all entrances and exits.

A detailed description of what happened was published at Inside Higher Ed:

According to university officials and local press accounts, the protest of the film included shouting of obscenities, blocking some from entering the room where the film was shown and trying to push open the door to take the shouting inside the room. Authorities were called and police had to escort the Jewish students who had gathered to watch the film from the room. Critics of the actions by Students for Justice in Palestine said that they did not object to a protest of the film, but to making it impossible for students to enter or leave the event, or to hold the event.

UC Irvine’s chancellor, Howard Gillman, grew concerned that the Jewish students and supporters were escorted away from their own event out of fear for their own safety. He is said to be looking into appropriate disciplinary action against the Palestinian protesters. He restated the school’s free speech policy in a campus-wide e-mail:

Last night, an incident occurred on campus that we believe crossed the line of civility, prompting me to re-emphasize our position on free speech, safety and mutual respect. The incident centered on a film-viewing event sponsored by Students Supporting Israel. A group of protesters reportedly disrupted the event, blocking exit paths. Participants feared for their safety, calling on our police force for assistance. While this university will protect freedom of speech, that right is not absolute. As I mentioned in a campus message at the beginning of the academic year, threats, harassment, incitement and defamatory speech are not protected. We must shelter everyone’s right to speak freely — without fear or intimidation — and allow events to proceed without disruption and potential danger.

What Gillman gets right in his e-mail is that everyone has a right to speak freely without fear of repercussions and that events should be able to proceed without violent interruptions like this. Where he gets it wrong is saying the right to free speech is not “absolute” when it is. It’s not his place to side with students who would falsely claim that a pro-Israel movie constitutes harassment. But I appreciate him laying down the law in this particular case.

This is an especially important move in light of the response by Students for Justice in Palestine to their protest. The group took its unrepentant attitude to Facebook, proud of what they accomplished that evening. All indications point to the fact that they will do this again, despite the chancellor’s warning (the following is verbatim):

Today we successfully demonstrated against the presence of IDF soldiers on campus. We condemn the Israeli ‘Defense’ Forces, better defined as Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), because they enforce Zionist settler colonialism and military occupation of Palestinian land by the Israeli nation-state. Not only does the IOF commit murders and several violences against the Palestinian people, including its use of Gaza as a laboratory for weapons testing, but it enforces militarization and policing all over the world. The United States send delegations of police forces to train in Israel by the IOF, such as the LAPD and NYPD for example. The presence of IDF and police threatened our coalition of Arab, black, undocumented, trans and the greater activist community. Thank you to all that came out and bravely spoke out against injustice.

It’s never brave to trample on your constitutional rights. But given their actions, and their proclivity towards grammatical errors, they don’t appear to be learning what they should at UC Irvine.

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