It is legal to yell “fire,” but for obvious reasons it is illegal to shout fire in a crowded movie theater when there is no fire. So, should students at an anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) vote be allowed to yell “Allahu Akbar!” while shouting down mostly Jewish and pro-Israel students?
It is never questioned if college students are allowed to shout anti-gay, anti-black, anti-Chinese, anti-female, anti-any minority slurs. They are not. Students who do so could be expelled and charged for their hate speech and threats. So when a riotous, angry mob yells ”Allahu Akbar!” at Jewish students, are these words a threat?
Literally, “Allah Akbar” means “G-d is great.” However, in certain contexts, and usually outside of prayer, its use is both anti-Jewish and anti-Israel and, as can be seen in endless examples, it is often homicidal.
Recently, as a vote to divest from Israel took place at U.C. Davis, a mob of students shouted “Allahu Akbar!” as a small group of mostly Jewish pro-Israel students carrying American and Israeli flags made their way out. According to the University of California Policy Code, people are not allowed “to communicate a serious expression of intent to terrorize…’Terrorize’ means to cause a reasonable person to fear bodily harm or death…”
In today’s climate, it seems most reasonable that a small group of Jewish and pro-Israel students would feel threatened, and yes, terrorized, while walking between a gauntlet of students yelling “Allahu Akbar!”
The University of California system would not tolerate these actions by any group toward gays, Asians, women, or blacks, so the time has come to put an end to this pretense. The time for yelling “Allahu Akbar!” at demonstrations, school votes, pro-Israel rallies, or anywhere that is publicly funded has come and gone, just as yelling “fire” in a crowded movie theater has.
Here is the description of the writer: “Jack Saltzberg is the founder and executive director of The Israel Group, the first nonprofit established to fight the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement in North America. Saltzberg has been a nonprofit professional leader for nearly 20 years and he served in combat in the Israel Defense Forces. theisraelgroup.org”
I am particularly curious about this selection from the essay: “It is never questioned if college students are allowed to shout anti-gay, anti-black, anti-Chinese, anti-female, anti-any minority slurs. They are not. Students who do so could be expelled and charged for their hate speech and threats.”
Who will not allow college students to shout “anti-gay, anti-black, anti-Chinese, anti-female, anti-any minority slurs”? Their university? Their university will monitor them wherever they go to make sure they never shout anything negative about a minority? Who would “charge” them for their “hate speech and threats”? The school? Their mommy and daddy? Their friends? The police? The DA? What exactly would the charges be?
Jack Saltzberg appears unaware that the United States has a First Amendment and that this covers, among other groups, college students who have every right in the world to shout negative things about minorities.
