Four student journalists who work for the UCLA Daily Bruin were attacked shortly before 3:30 a.m. Wednesday by Pro-Israel counterprotesters during a campus demonstration that turned violent.
Daily Bruin news editor Catherine Hamilton, 21, told The Times she recognized one of the counterprotesters as someone who had previously verbally harassed her and taken pictures of her press badge. The individual instructed the group to encircle the student journalists, she said, before they sprayed the four with mace or pepper spray, flashed lights in their faces and chanted Hamilton’s name.
As she tried to break free, Hamilton said, she was punched repeatedly in the chest and upper abdomen; another student journalist was pushed to the ground and beaten and kicked for nearly a minute. The attack was first reported in the Daily Bruin.
“We expected to be harassed by counterprotesters,” Hamilton said in an interview Wednesday, adding that every Daily Bruin reporter was instructed to use a buddy system, to report from outside the encampment and to leave the area if it became unsafe. “I truly did not expect to be directly assaulted.”
Just want to clarify, as an Jewish American clergyman, the Israeli government is not our government. To say otherwise is to play into the Israeli propaganda which states “To be Jewish is to be Israeli, and to be Israeli is to be Jewish.” The fact that the Israeli government has twisted religion to serve its fascist goals is nauseating.
I agree, conflating nationalism with ethnicity is just such a dangerous game. As a Korean, it is tough watching governments continue to use ethno-nationalism to turn a people upon themselves.
I have great empathy for what you are experiencing, and i hope that your community is not affected by the schisms created by this horrible conflict.
Theocracy is gonna Theocrate.