A pro-Israel campus activist featured in October 8 has sued the University of California Regents and UC Santa Barbara, accusing the university of turning a blind eye to antisemitic harassment after she publicly expressed support for Israel following the Hamas attack.
Wendy Sachs’ October 8 tracks the fallout of the event, namely the rise in antisemitism on college campuses. It examines global anti-Israel protests alongside increases in anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence, decrying a perceived lack of vocal condemnation from Hollywood. The film, which found a home at Briarcliff Entertainment after it was passed on streamers and networks, includes interviews from a host of prominent figures, including executives (Bari Weiss, Sheryl Sandberg), politicians (Ritchie Torres) and actor-activists Debra Messing (who executive produced the film) and the Israeli-American Noa Tishby (In Treatment, Nip/Tuck).
Profiled in the pro-Israel doc: UCSB student body president Tessa Veksler, who released a statement supporting Israel and received a barrage of hate messages and threats as a result. In an Instagram post on Oct. 8, Veksler wrote that she stood “with my Jewish community/neighbors” and “with the people of Israel.” After, she was accused of supporting genocide.
The lawsuit alleges violations of federal civil rights laws. It says that UCSB “tacitly and actively supported” harassment and discrimination Veksler endured from antisemitic students.
Signs that hung on campus read “You can run but you can’t hide Tessa Veksler” and “Get these Zionist[s] out of office.” She later faced a recall campaign, which ultimately failed.
Veksler argues that UCSB had a duty to address harassment directed at her under its anti-discrimination policy, which requires the university to investigate religious discrimination and take actions to correct it. She formally complained to administrators, though the response was “patently anemic,” according to the complaint, which notes that unapproved posters referencing her were removed and that a UCSB representative participated in the attacks by inciting antisemitic animus at a campus event she attended.
“UCSB refused to assist Tessa in protecting herself from these ongoing attacks and harassment, choosing instead to leave her to face the antisemitic mob alone – and increasingly vulnerable – for months on end,” writes Eric George, a lawyer for Veksler, in the complaint filed earlier this month in California federal court. “Indeed, the University and its representatives actually made the situation worse, and the time has now come for UCSB to answer for its unspeakable complicity.”
In the aftermath of their handling of campus protests, universities have been paying big bucks to settle lawsuits accusing them of neglecting antisemitism. UC Los Angeles reached a $6 million settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor, who alleged civil rights violations when pro-Palestinian protestors were allowed to block their access to classes. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has recently issued guidance stressing that discrimination against Jewish students triggers federal civil rights protections.
In a statement, George said UCSB “must be accountable for its craven decision to not protect the safety of Tessa and its other Jewish students, for its disregard for the enforcement of the school’s rules, and inexplicable support for its own staff’s explicit endorsement of blatantly antisemitic language and threatening behavior.”
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