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US Congress Launches Probe Into University of California Berkeley for Allegedly Ignoring Antisemitism
Jewish students, professors, and community members posing for photographs during civil rights march across the University of California, Berkeley campus. Photo: Gil Leeds
The US House Committee on Education and the Workforce has launched an investigation into alleged antisemitism at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), three weeks after a mob of anti-Zionist students stormed a campus building and verbally attacked and spat on Jewish students attending a talk by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier.
“We have grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of UC Berkeley’s response to antisemitism on its campus,” US Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) wrote in a letter to UC Berkeley’s chancellor, as well as to the president of the University of California system, on Tuesday. “UC Berkeley’s failure to address this activity breaches a specific and longstanding university commitment to keep the gate unobstructed as part of a legal settlement and constitutes a selective dereliction of duty to enforce university rules against harassment.”
Foxx’s letter adds UC Berkeley to a growing list of colleges and universities that, despite adopting robust anti-discrimination policies and speech codes for shielding minority groups from hatred, have lapsed in their protection of Jewish students experiencing assault, harassment, and bullying. Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Pennsylvania are also being investigated by the committee.
UC Berkeley came under scrutiny last month after a mob of hundreds of pro-Palestinian students and non-students shut down an event at its Zellerbach Hall featuring Israeli reservist Ran Bar-Yoshafat, forcing Jewish students to flee to a secret safe room as the protesters overwhelmed campus police.
Footage of the incident showed a frenzied mass of anti-Zionist agitators banging on the doors of Zellerbach. The mob then, according to witnesses, eventually stormed the building — breaking windows in the process, according to reports in The Daily Wire — and precipitated the decision to evacuate the area. During the infiltration of Zellerbach, one of the mob — assembled by Bears for Palestine, which had earlier proclaimed its intention to cancel the event — spit on a Jewish student and called him a “Jew,” pejoratively.
Proclaiming that “we will not rest,” Jewish students responded to the incident by marching through the campus last Monday, from Zellerbach Hall to California Hall, where Berkeley City Council member Sophie Hahn (D) told them to remain courageous and optimistic in their striving to overcome injustice.
However, while the march was described by its organizer as a success, its progress was momentarily obstructed by a barricade that the anti-Zionist group Bears for Palestine erected in the clearing of Sather Gate, through which the marchers needed to pass to reach their destination. Bears for Palestine had staked out its members there for weeks in contravention of school rules, according to UC Berkeley student Daniel Solomon. Their presence there forced the Jewish marchers to cross the Strawberry Creek, which cuts through campus.
“You have to go down about six feet to the stream bed through this steep terrain. I thought our having to do so was just proof for the media and everyone else of what we’ve been going through,” Solomon told The Algemeiner during an interview, portions of which were conducted over iMessage. “Having to cross it was very symbolic.”
In Tuesday’s letter, Foxx mentioned the storming of Zellerbach and the “occupation” of Sather Gate as cause to investigate the university. She also cited numerous incidents from “well before [Hamas’ invasion of Israel on] October 7, 2023,” including its employment of a lecturer who tweeted antisemitic images — one of which accused Israel of organ harvesting, a blood libel — the rewarding of academic benefits for participating in anti-Zionist activity, and the banning of Zionist speakers from Berkeley Law. Foxx noted as well that in 2017, The Algemeiner ranked UC Berkeley as number five on “The 40 Worst Colleges For Jewish Students.”
Foxx has requested “all reports of antisemitic acts or incidents” and “related documents” going back to 2021 that were made to the offices of the president, general counsel, dean of students, police department, human resources, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, among others. She also requested documentation on the school’s funding of Bears for Palestine and disciplinary measures taken against students who have been found guilty of antisemitic abuse.
“The request also extends to any informal communications such as text or other electronic messages,” Foxx added. “We expect that this request will be conveyed promptly to all parities who would be reasonably expected to have responsive materials.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post US Congress Launches Probe Into University of California Berkeley for Allegedly Ignoring Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.