At UC Berkeley, a 1960s Jewish leftist learned that the revolution now wants him dead

Erwin Chemerinsky is an old-school 1960s leftist radical. He’s also Jewish. This week, he learned the tried-and-true lesson of all revolutions: The younger generation is more radicalized and will inevitably turn on its revolutionary progenitors. Thus, Chermerinsky, who is now the Dean of UC Berkeley School of Law, was shocked to have his law students scarily and aggressively turn against him for being a “Zionist.”

Chemerinsky is a good writer, so I’ll just reprint here his statement about events at the law school and his home:

Image: Erwin Chemerinsky. YouTube screen grab.

April 10, 2024

I write this with profound sadness. Since I became a dean, my wife and I have invited the first-year students to our home for dinner. We were asked this year by the presidents of the third year class to have the graduating students over for dinner because they began in Fall 2021 when COVID prevented us from having dinners for them. We were delighted to oblige and designated three nights – April 9, 10, 11 – that graduating students could choose among. I never imagined that something that we do to help our community would become ugly and divisive.

Last week, there was an awful poster, on social media and bulletin boards in the law school building, of a caricature of me holding a bloody knife and fork, with the words in large letters, “No dinner with Zionist Chem while Gaza starves.” I never thought I would see such blatant antisemitism, with an image that invokes the horrible antisemitic trope of blood libel and that attacks me for no apparent reason other than I am Jewish. Although many complained to me about the posters and how it deeply offended them, I felt that though deeply offensive, they were speech protected by the First Amendment. But I was upset that those in our community had to see this disturbing, antisemitic poster around the law school.

The students responsible for this had the leaders of our student government tell me that if we did not cancel the dinners, they would protest at them. I was sad to hear this, but made clear that we would not be intimidated and that the dinners would go forward for those who wanted to attend. I said that I assumed that any protest would not be disruptive.

On April 9, about 60 students came to our home for the dinner. All had registered in advance. All came into our backyard and were seated at tables for dinner. While guests were eating, a woman stood up with a microphone, stood on the top step in the yard, and began a speech, including about the plight of the Palestinians. My wife and I immediately approached her and asked her to stop and leave. The woman continued. When she continued, there was an attempt to take away her microphone. Repeatedly, we said to her that you are a guest in our home, please stop and leave. About 10 students were clearly with her and ultimately left as a group.

The dinner, which was meant to celebrate graduating students, was obviously disrupted and disturbed. I am enormously sad that we have students who are so rude as to come into my home, in my backyard, and use this social occasion for their political agenda.

The dinners will go forward on Wednesday and Thursday. I hope that there will be no disruptions; my home is not a forum for free speech. But we will have security present. Any student who disrupts will be reported to student conduct and a violation of the student conduct code is reported to the Bar.

I have spent my career staunchly defending freedom of speech. I have spent my years as dean trying hard to create a warm, inclusive community. I am deeply saddened by these events and take solace that it is just a small number of our students who would behave in such a clearly inappropriate manner.

Erwin

Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law

University of California, Berkeley School of Law

This video is fascinating because this hate-filled Islamic revolutionary also feels that the ordinary rules of conduct do not apply to her:

This clip shows the protester was asked to leave repeatedly and refused, even after the homeowners threatened to call police. She held on to the mic, risking pulling an older woman down. She said that because she was a Muslim women, she could not be touched. pic.twitter.com/hrvQ38J7Ep

— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) April 11, 2024

Welcome to the revolution, Dean Chemerinsky. Thanks to your decades of leftist policies, you are the midwife who birthed this antisemitic, anti-American monster, and now it’s turning on you. Or, as Shipwreckedcrew writes,

Agree — but Chemerinsky has empowered this kind of civic disobedience. They are simply taking their act to a locale that he disapproves of — because it intrudes on him personally.

Where was his disapproval when this conduct intruded on the lives or others? https://t.co/hkbusqHLbM

— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) April 11, 2024

The sad thing about Chemerinsky is that I’m absolutely certain that, come November, he’ll vote for Biden. He’s shocked and confused, but despite what he’s seen on campuses across America, he still hasn’t figured out that this antisemitic hatred is part of the leftist package, from Obama and Biden on down to the lowliest foot soldier in the Democrat party.

Donald Trump is correct (of course) that “Any Jewish person that votes for a Democrat or votes for Biden should have their head examined.”

Day after day, the Democrats adopt the same coercive practices the Nazis used to consolidate power, and day after day, like the Nazis, they become increasingly open and aggressive about their hatred for Jews. After all, if this were really about Israel, the Democrats and their fellow travelers wouldn’t be attacking Jews around the world. It’s the attacks on Jews that give the game away.

And day after day, the majority of American Jews, like too many German Jews, refuse to accept reality and insist that it’s inconceivable that their political party can turn against them. These Jews, including Chemerinsky, will still be wondering what happened as their party members lead them to the guillotine.