Jewish woman forced to hide from anti-Israel 'activists' at UC Irvine
You all remember the University of California at Irvine, the place where then-Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren was heckled and forced to stop speaking? Well, it happened again. Last week, a Jewish woman was forced to hide from anti-Israel 'activists' at Irvine outside a meeting at which a movie about the IDF was being screened.
Let's go to the videotape.
Here's how the woman, Sophomore Eliana Kopley, was trapped outside.
Sophomore Eliana Kopley had just left a Holocaust-related event when
she was walking toward the facility featuring a screening of “Beneath
the Helmet,” a documentary about the Israel Defense Forces. As she
arrived at the event hosted by Students Supporting Israel, Ms. Kopley
was met by an angry crowd pounding on the doors and windows—engaged in
violent chants targeting the Jewish state.
“I was terrified. There is no other word to describe how I felt,” Ms. Kopley told the Haym Salomon Center.
As the mob tried to gain entrance to the event, one protestor shouted, “If we’re not allowed in, you’re not allowed in!”
With the crowd physically forbidding Ms. Kopley from attending the
event and chants inciting violence against Jews and Israel such as
“Intifada, Intifada—Long live the Intifada!” and “F**k Israel!” Ms.
Kopley walked away from the scene.
But she was not alone. A group of female students followed her as she escaped to safety in the room nearby.
“When I turned back, at that moment, I looked at one of the girls and wanted to hide and cry,” Ms. Kopley said.
Throughout this entire time, Ms. Kopley never hung up the phone with
her mother, who was anxiously fearful on the other end of the line.
“My mom keeps asking what’s going on. But I couldn’t even say
complete sentences. All I managed to say was ‘protesters’ and she
started yelling at me to call the cops,” Ms. Kopley said.
So she did. As the chanting heightened, Ms. Kopley remained on the
line with 9-1-1 until an officer found her shortly after. Two officers,
who decided it would be best to put on black rubber gloves to protect
them from sharp objects, escorted her through the crowd of protesters to
the nearby film screening safely.
One of those refined J Street leaders called Brandeis senior and pro-Israel activist Daniel Mael a 's**t bag' as he walked to his dorm room on campus late Friday night. This is from Adam Kredo.
Mael said that he and a friend were returning to their dorm rooms at
around 12:45 a.m. on Saturday when he came across Lepson—who says she
currently works as a political intern at the Democratic National Committee (DNC)—and a group of her friends.
“As they approached, Talia Lepson give me a really, really intense
stare and then I turned to the students and said, ‘Shabbat shalom,’”
said Mael, who is an observant Jew. “I was being serious. I thought that
religion and politics are not necessarily intertwined. I thought you
could still be nice.”
Lepson “responded by saying, ‘Jews hate you’,” Mael said. “As she
continued to walk, she screamed, ‘You are a shit bag.’” Mael said an
unidentified person to her right hurled a similar insult.
Students who witnessed the event say they were shocked to see the J Street leader verbally attack Mael.
“It is somewhat scary to witness malice in exchange for benevolence,
especially in the context of religion, where we are supposed to set
aside politics when embracing it,” said one student who witnessed the
incident but was not comfortable speaking out publicly.
Mael said that he “proceeded immediately to the university police to
file an incident report” following the run-in with Lepson, who has
interned at the White House, according to her LinkedIn profile.
A Brandeis University police official said that the department does
not speak to the media on the weekend and recommended a reporter call
back later.
J Street tried to turn the tables, self-righteously accusing Mael of harassing J Street's leadership by fabricating stories.
It is one thing to engage in a strong and vibrant argument over the
difficult issues at stake in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We are
deeply committed to an open and engaging dialogue when it is grounded in
the substance of our disagreements.
It is another to conduct a campaign of personal intimidation and
harassment, which is the pattern of behavior that Daniel Mael, a student
blogger at Brandeis, has established in relating to J Street U student
leaders.
In a new episode this weekend, a story was fabricated concerning one of
the leaders of J Street U Brandeis. That student has now filed a report
with the campus police over the incident that Mael invented and his
ongoing pattern of harassment at Brandeis. The matter is now in the
hands of campus police and we hope the authorities will take action to
address our serious concerns.
In the meantime, we ask that others in the Jewish community and media -
even those who don't agree with us politically - will distance
themselves from this blogger and others with a history of conduct driven
by malice and deceit.
That's pretty Orwellian. We don't agree with Mael and therefore you should distance yourself from him and not hear his point of view because we would never be uncivil. Really?
"Finding Our Voices: Standing Up For Israel in Western Massachusetts" is the story of students at Smith College and Hampshire College standing up for what they believe in. It represents both the challenges and opportunities the pro-Israel community faces on campus, as well as the power students hold to make a difference.
Let's go to the videotape.
Thankfully, Israel supporters were not harassed like that when I attended Bir Zeit on the Hudson and NYU. I guess I grew up in simpler times. It makes you want to give these kids a virtual hug.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
