Pro-Israel Counterprotestors ‘Instigated’ Violence Against Pro-Palestine Demonstrators, NY Times Finds

A group of pro-Israel counterprotestors repeatedly attacked pro-Palestine demonstrators at UCLA as police stood by, a New York Times investigation has found.

Separate reporting from The Daily Beast indicates the counterprotestors were partly funded by outside agitators.

On Friday, the Times published an extensive report after the paper examined more than 100 videos from the clashes on Tuesday night. Pro-Palestine protests have taken place on college campuses across the country to urge their schools to divest from Israel over its war in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. More than 2,000 demonstrators have been arrested nationwide, including about 200 at UCLA.

“The videos showed counterprotesters attacking students in the pro-Palestinian encampment for several hours, including beating them with sticks, using chemical sprays and launching fireworks as weapons,” the Times reported. “As of Friday, no arrests had been made in connection with the attack.”

The paper stated the attacks began at 10:50 p.m. “when a group of counterprotesters started tearing away metal barriers that had been in place to cordon off pro-Palestinian protesters” in an encampment that school officials declared illegal earlier in the day.

“Security personnel hired by the university are seen in yellow vests standing to the side throughout the incident,” the Times said. “A university spokesperson declined to comment on the security staff’s response.”

The attacks were nearly three hours old before police arrived. In the meantime, “Counterprotestors shot fireworks toward the encampment at least six times.” One was thrown at a group of protestors “who were carrying an injured person out of the encampment.”

The Times added that “counterprotesters sprayed chemicals both into the encampment and directly at people’s faces.”

“At times, counterprotesters swarmed individuals — sometimes a group descended on a single person,” the report continued. “They could be seen punching, kicking and attacking people with makeshift weapons, including sticks, traffic cones and wooden boards.”

The violence continued even after police showed up:

Twenty minutes after police arrive, a video shows a counterprotester spraying a chemical toward the encampment during a scuffle over a metal barricade. Another counterprotester can be seen punching someone in the head near the encampment after swinging a plank at barricades.

Fifteen minutes later, while those in the encampment chanted “Free, free Palestine,” counterprotesters organized a rush toward the barricades. During the rush, a counterprotester pulls away a metal barricade from a woman, yelling “You stand no chance, old lady.”

Throughout the intermittent violence, officers were captured on video standing about 300 feet away from the area for roughly an hour, without stepping in.

It was not until 2:42 a.m. that officers began to move toward the encampment, after which counterprotesters dispersed and the night’s violence between the two camps mostly subsided.

The Times said that neither the LAPD nor the California Highway Patrol replied to questions about their response to the violence.

Even after police dispersed the crowd, counterprotestors continued the assault:

While police continued to stand outside the encampment, a video filmed at 3:32 a.m. shows a man who was walking away from the scene being attacked by a counterprotester, then dragged and pummeled by others. An editor at the U.C.L.A. student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, told The Times the man was a journalist at the paper, and that they were walking with other student journalists who had been covering the violence. The editor said she had also been punched and sprayed in the eyes with a chemical.

The day after the violence, The Daily Beast reported that Jessica Seinfeld – a cookbook author and wife of Jerry Seinfeld – donated to the counterprotest.

“A GoFundMe for the effort, which Seinfeld promoted in an Instagram story this week after contributing at least $5,000, has since made the majority of its donations anonymous,” The Beast reported. “The fundraising page has raised more than $93,000 as of Wednesday and also changed its organizer name and description since launching over the weekend.”

The publication further noted that billionaire Bill Ackman “appears to have donated $10,000 to a GoFundMe (titled ‘Support Loud Video Displays of Oct 7 Truths on Campus’) that… has collected $26,000 off the ‘success’ of the Oct. 7 footage display at UCLA.”