Report: Perception of antisemitism, anti-Israeli bias increasing at UCLA

LOS ANGELES — To one group, UCLA has become a hotbed of antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, a campus led by an administration that has not taken enough action to address pro-Palestinian demonstrations that violate university rules and veer into anti-Jewish tropes and slogans.

To another, the university has become a site of repression against Muslim, Arab and Palestinian American voices, with excessive security patrols and strict free expression rules that clamp down on pro-Palestinian protesters and their demands that the university divest from ties to Israel’s military.

More than a year after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel and the nation’s retaliatory war in Gaza ignited campus protests — and nearly six months since a violent mob stormed a UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment — dueling university task forces and divided students and faculty have painted contrasting pictures of the Westwood campus still reeling from its tumultuous spring.

UCLA’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias this week publicly released a 93-page report submitted to the university’s interim Chancellor Darnell Hunt describing “broad-based perceptions of antisemitic and anti-Israeli bias on campus” that have increased over the last year.

In a survey of hundreds of students, faculty and staff members, it found sizable numbers have considered leaving for degrees or jobs elsewhere, saying they experienced hostility from peers because of their Jewish, Israeli or pro-Israel identities or otherwise have felt abandoned on campus.

The report cited more than 100 Jews or Israeli Americans at UCLA who said they were attacked or threatened in the last year for their identity, and several instances of chalked or spray-painted displays of swastikas on buildings, in classrooms or on campus sidewalks since Oct. 7, 2023.

In several cases, the report cited disrespectful uses of the Star of David, such as a chalking of the symbol on campus property with the star accompanied by the words “step here.”

The star is a Jewish symbol that appears prominently on the Israeli flag and the emblem of the Israel Defense Forces. The report also cited messages explicitly targeting Israelis, such as a sign during a campus protest that said “Israelis are native 2 hell.”

The publication followed two reports — in April and June — from the UCLA Task Force on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Muslim, and Anti-Arab Racism that decried a campus that’s “less safe than ever” for those groups and criticized “increased harassment, violence, and targeting” of them. A third report is in the works.