{"id":45233,"date":"2025-11-20T12:49:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T20:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45233"},"modified":"2025-11-20T12:49:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T20:49:04","slug":"berkeley-law-threatens-student-protesters-ahead-of-panel-titled-why-israel-won-the-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/11\/20\/berkeley-law-threatens-student-protesters-ahead-of-panel-titled-why-israel-won-the-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Berkeley Law threatens student protesters ahead of panel titled \u2018Why Israel won the war\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li>Alice Conry &amp; Ayah Alsheikha | Staff<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nov 19, 2025 (DailyCal.org)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/dailycal.org\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/4\/b2\/4b258831-cb31-490d-baf7-0be019530303\/691d4b1983312.image.jpg?resize=400%2C258\" alt=\"israel_Diego Alcantar_staff.jpg\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>The Berkeley Federalist Society\u2019s panel featured Berkeley Law professors John Yoo and Steven Solomon, as well as history and public policy professor Daniel Sargent.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/users\/profile\/Diego%20Alcantar\"><em>Diego Alcantar | Staff<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Berkeley Federalist Society&nbsp;hosted a panel on Tuesday at the UC Berkeley School of Law titled \u201cWhy Israel Won: A Panel on Oct 7th and the Wider War.\u201d The event drew a crowd of roughly 50 people while an equal number of protesters challenged the topic of the panel and the controversial speakers from outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ahead of the event, Berkeley Law sent an email to Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine, or Berkeley LSJP, a campus group that organized the protest. The email threatened to report demonstrators to the state bar if they were found to violate Time, Place, and Manner regulations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe planned to host our rally at Heyman Terrace, a space on the perimeter of the law school where we\u2019ve held several unpermitted, impromptu gatherings in the past,\u201d Berkeley LSJP said in a statement. \u201cHowever, yesterday we received an email from the opaque Building Oversight Committee, warning that since we hadn\u2019t reserved the space, proceeding with the event \u2018could\u2019 result in suspended organizational privileges and disciplinary action that would be reported to the State Bar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the panel features three speakers, Berkeley LSJP flyers targeted two speakers, namely John Yoo, a Berkeley Law professor who is infamous for his role in former President George W. Bush\u2019s administration as an author of the \u201ctorture memos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The memos provided the legal justification for Abu Ghraib \u2014 a detention facility used during the Iraq War that led to widespread outrage as the United Nations deemed many of the tactics used to be in violation of international law.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The other notable speaker, Berkeley Law professor Steven Solomon, has been an outspoken critic of campus administration\u2019s response to alleged antisemitism.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In February, Solomon authored an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal titled \u201cMr. Trump, Investigate My Campus,\u201d after which a joint Department of Education and Department of Justice Taskforce to Combat Anti-Semitism announced an investigation into campus. Solomon is now on the payroll of the federal task force as an adviser on legal issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The last speaker, history and public policy professor Daniel Sargent, drew less criticism online as he has not been outspoken on social issues. His research focuses mainly on American foreign policy.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During opening statements before general discussion and audience questions,&nbsp;Sargent identified \u201cfour factors\u201d that signified Israel\u2019s victory in the war: institutions, autonomy, persistence and openness.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Solomon discussed the \u201cmorality\u201d of Israel\u2019s actions and specifically why the term \u201cgenocide\u201d is misused when discussing the country\u2019s military actions in Gaza. Yoo focused on how the war fit into U.S. grand strategy&nbsp;as well as the future implications of the war and its effect on future conflicts in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regarding Palestine, Sargent said he believes Palestinians deserve rights and dignity, and that \u201ca just peace demands the Palestinian dignity be affirmed.\u201d While Solomon claimed Israel had acted \u201cmorally higher\u201d than other nations in a \u201cwar like this,\u201d he said he sees people dying in the conflict as a \u201ctragedy.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the panel, a group of nearly 50 protesters, led by student group Berkeley LSJP, gathered outside the building around 1 p.m. to denounce Berkeley Law for hosting the event.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The protest remained removed from the building itself as the email from administration warned against violations of Time, Place, and Manner, including the use of amplified sound during the demonstration. A violation of this rule would result in \u201ceither (or both) disciplinary action and suspension of the group\u2019s ability to reserve space within the Law School,\u201d according to the email, which was provided to the Daily Cal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Protesters gathered for less than an hour, chanting \u201cFree Palestine\u201d and taking turns addressing the audience in front of Heyman Terrace.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think a lot of faculty and students on this campus are afraid to speak out for justice,\u201d said Brooke Lober,&nbsp;a protester and campus lecturer in gender and women\u2019s studies. Lober earlier condemned Yoo, stating, \u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable that he still has an office on this campus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lober claimed that in the past, she was doxxed and received death threats after speaking out for a ceasefire resolution at an Oakland City Council hearing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEven someone like me, who\u2019s a lecturer at the school, who doesn\u2019t have security of employment, I feel compelled to use my voice, nonetheless,\u201d Lober said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Berkeley Federalist Society, the organizer of the panel, is a conservative and libertarian organization that aims to bring a conservative view to the theory and philosophy of law on campus, according to the group\u2019s president, Shneur Gansburg.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gansburg said the group was aware the panel would be protested and some of their previous events surrounding Israel had also been protested.He claimed that protesters attempted to pull the fire alarm at the event but it had been shut off.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are in an academic environment and I feel like these events should happen and people should be able to hear differences in opinions and thoughts,\u201d Gansburg said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While protests occurred outside, the proceedings inside remained uninterrupted. A number of police were present both inside and outside of the event. The lack of disruption even prompted Yoo to comment, saying that he was glad he was able to make it to the end of his remarks uninterrupted.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo Berkeley Law and its Building Oversight Committee (we know you\u2019re reading this!): shame on you,\u201d Berkeley LSJP wrote in the statement. \u201cWe will not be cowed by your threats. We broke no rules today, but we adhere to increasingly restrictive and draconian policies only to the extent that doing so advances the struggle for Palestinian liberation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Berkeley Federalist Society&nbsp;hosted a panel on Tuesday at the UC Berkeley School of Law titled \u201cWhy Israel Won: A Panel on Oct 7th and the Wider War.\u201d The event drew a crowd of roughly 50 people while an equal number of protesters challenged the topic of the panel and&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/11\/20\/berkeley-law-threatens-student-protesters-ahead-of-panel-titled-why-israel-won-the-war\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45234,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45233\/revisions\/45234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}