We, students of Tikvah: the Zionist Voice at UC Berkeley, will not stand by idly as our homeland and our people are brought under continuous vile attacks. We will not tolerate indoctrination at our university, and we will shed light on the truth amid the anti-Semitic and Israel-hating bigotry. We call on YOU to sign this petition and demand a change in the way the UC Berkeley administration handles radical lies and propaganda in our lecture halls. While we fully support freedom of speech, we stand against hateful indoctrination and explicit lies being sold to an audience at an academically sponsored event. 

This past week, Hatem Bazian -- UC Berkeley lecturer infamous for a recent anti-Semitic incident -- invited terrorist-sympathizer MK Haneen Zoabi to present a talk titled “Israel: A Democracy or a Colonial Project?” This event, hosted by the Center for Race & Gender's Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project at UC Berkeley -- an academic department that has refused to sponsor Israel-related events with a different perspective in the past -- spewed lies about Israel’s civilians and soldiers and openly promoted revisionist history. Disgracefully, this “academic event” occurred at the onset of Yom HaZikaron; on this day of mourning, MK Zoabi and Hatem Bazian smeared the Jewish state and its defense forces with countless lies, and once again showed that UC Berkeley provides a platform for anti-Semitism under the guise of academic professionalism.

Hatem Bazian must be held accountable for inviting and hosting an anti-Semitic and terrorist-sympathizing speaker to this campus, and the administration must take action to ensure that such a radical figure does not have an academic platform to spew her propaganda. MK Haneen Zoabi’s presence on our campus, sponsored by UC Berkeley’s academic departments, once again proves that our administration refuses to uphold its responsibility for academic integrity and continues turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism.

Earlier this semester, we provided the administration with evidence of Hatem Bazian’s anti-Semitic actions, which have been recurring over and over for nearly two decades with no repercussions whatsoever. We now call on Chancellor Christ and the UC Berkeley administration to take a public stance against anti-Semitism, and to take immediate administrative action against Hatem Bazian for promoting anti-Semitism, preaching revisionist history full of lies, and hosting a radical, offensive, and utterly dishonest speaker in an “academic event.” If no action is taken immediately, we will have proof that our university does not care about its academic, intellectual, and moral standards, and that it chooses to bury and forget the threats Jewish and Israeli students face on this campus.

We call on the Chancellor to finally acknowledge the deep-rooted level and acceptance of anti-Semitism at UC Berkeley, and its never-ending promotion by the same faculty member. We cannot help but see the double standard against our community -- when other groups are under attack, the university releases public statements condemning the slander and offering resources and support, yet when it is our community, the university remains silent. We will not back down and will continue to vocally oppose the indoctrination happening under the guise of academia, today and every day.

SIGN our petition to demand that Chancellor Christ and the UC Berkeley administration publicly condemn the rampant anti-Semitism on our campus, and hold Hatem Bazian accountable for his actions.