Berkeley dean’s dinner devolves into chaos after student tries to speak on Gaza war

UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and his wife host a dinner for law school graduates as a Palestinian-American student attempts to plead guilty to civilian casualties of a six-month-old Question gave a speech and the party descended into chaos. The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The party was held in the backyard garden of Chemerinsky’s home to honor law students for their work and give them a chance to spend time with the dean and his wife, law professor Katherine Fisk, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A viral video shows Palestinian-American student Malak Afaneh wearing a denim skirt, white shirt and black and white pattern scarf (headgear) on her neck and a red Hijab (a scarf wrapped around a Muslim woman’s head) stands up from the table and stands in front of the seated students.

Afane was one of 60 law school graduates invited to the dinner, Chemerinsky said in a statement.

Afaneh greeted in Arabic and translated it into English to mean “Peace and blessings be upon you all.” She said: “We gather here tonight to mark our final weeks as law students. Tonight is also the last night of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting observed by millions of Muslims around the world.”

However, the Jews Chemerinsky and his wife interrupted her and asked Afane to leave the house. Fisk, the dean’s wife, tried to snatch the student’s microphone away, telling her “this is not your house and I want you to leave.”

The video shows Chemerinsky telling the Palestinian-American student to leave the house immediately after saying “gather here.” “This is my house. You are my guest. You are my guest. Please get out of my house,” he said.

In the video, Fisk’s arm is draped over Afane’s right shoulder and at times appears to touch her neck. Fisk is seen looking at another student and telling her to make sure Afane leaves their house.

An argument ensued between Afane, Chemerinsky, Fisk and the unnamed law student.

“You’re not welcome,” Fisk told Afane. Afane then said, “You can call the police,” and Fisk said, “I don’t want to do that.”

“Forty thousand people are dying,” Afane said at one point, to which Fisk responded, “I can’t stop this.” Afane was seen being pulled up a short flight of stairs, with Fisk trying to snatch it from her microphone.

Afane claimed in an interview that Fisk assaulted her and deprived her of her right to free speech. “The aggression she rushed towards me when I said ‘Asalam Alekum’. She saw my hijab and headscarf and it was a risk for her,” she said.

The incident comes amid a surge in anti-Semitic incidents at U.S. universities following the end of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

Dean’s statement on the incident

In a statement, Chemerinsky recalled an incident in which a poster on social media and on a bulletin board in the law school building showed him holding a bloody knife and fork in protest of Israel’s presence in Gaza. action. He said he did not expect such “blatant anti-Semitism.”

“Last week, a horrifying poster appeared on social media and on bulletin boards in the law school building, a cartoon of me holding a bloody knife and fork with the words, in capital letters: ‘WHEN GAZA STARVES, NO. Dinner with a Zionist chemist. ‘. I never thought I would see such blatant anti-Semitism, with imagery that evoked the horrific anti-Semitic tropes of a blood libel, and nothing about it except that I am Jewish Attack me for obvious reasons,” he said.

“While many people have complained to me about these posters and how it deeply offends them, I feel that, although these posters are deeply offensive, their speech is protected by the First Amendment. But I am disturbed that our community People in law school had to see this disturbing anti-Semitic poster,” he said.

Explaining what happened, Chemerinsky said: “On April 9, about 60 students came to our house for dinner. Everyone had registered in advance. Everyone came to our backyard and sat at the table. Dinner was served. As the guests ate, a woman stood up with a microphone, stood on the top step of the courtyard, and began a speech about, among other things, the plight of the Palestinians.”

“My wife and I immediately approached her and asked her to stop and leave. The woman continued. As she continued, someone tried to take away her microphone. We told her repeatedly, you are a guest in our home, Please stop and leave,” he added.

“Approximately 10 students who were apparently with her eventually left en masse,” Chemerinsky said, adding that the dinner was “obviously disrupted and disturbed.”

“I am extremely saddened that our students were so rude and intruded into my home, my backyard, and used this social occasion to further their political ends,” he said.

The dean said that despite the incident, the dinner will still take place as planned on Wednesday and Thursday. He warned that action would be taken against students misbehaving.

“Dinners will be held on Wednesday and Thursday. I hope there will be no disruptions; my home is not a forum for free speech. But we will have security present. Any students who interfere will be reported to the Student Conduct and Violations Code of Student Conduct The contents will be reported to the Law Society,” he said.

He further said: “I am deeply saddened by these incidents and take comfort in the fact that only a small number of students would engage in such clearly inappropriate behavior.”