Lily KarofskyI had two very distinct reactions when I discovered that anti-Israel protesters had occupied one of the main buildings on my college campus early Monday morning.
After they forced their way into UCSB’s Gervitz Hall, intimidated maintenance staff into leaving, trashed the inside and outside of the building, and barricaded themselves in, part of me immediately reacted as a journalist who saw an incredible news story and a chance to be one of the first ones to get it.
Another, very real part of me, reacted as a Jewish student, who has been deeply involved in my Jewish community at UCSB, and the events that have transpired since the massacre carried out by Hamas against Israel last October 7th.
Over the past few days, as I witnessed a stunning series of events unfold on campus, these two, equally strong parts of me struggled for ascendancy.
Here is a report of what happened in real time:
Monday 7:15 p.m.
Immediately, after hearing about what was happening, I drove to Gervitz Hall from Santa Barbara with a friend to take photos. I knew right away I wanted to document and write about this volatile event.
What I didn’t know at the time was that the anti-Israel extremists were still in the building; I was under the impression it was an isolated act of protest, and assumed that they had returned to their encampment near the building, across from Davidson Library.
However, when I walked around the back of Gervitz, to see if there had been more damage done, I saw something that seemed straight out of a war movie: a group of the masked extremists were reinforcing their barricades and patrolling the building like a tiny military battalion.
I felt my stomach drop, and my arm get yanked as my friend pulled me behind a wall. Both of our faces went blank as we tried to grapple with the scene we saw. How was this real?
We also found a big janitorial broom snapped in half, resting next to a sign that read “Gervitz is closed due to Genocide.”
How is this happening on our campus? Why are the police not already here?
Monday 7:30-8:50 p.m.
We spent the next hour or so moving around the building, getting inside parts of it that were not blocked off, and listening to the occupiers through air vents.
The conversations we were able to overhear were disturbing, most of them along the lines of “Zionists deserve all of this” and describing the university as complicit in funding a “genocide.”
We watched as the masked protesters rotated around the building, in what looked like well-organized shifts, taking turns on the roof with a megaphone chanting intimidatingly at the students below, some of whom were simply trying to get to their finals.
We also saw multiple walkie talkies and heard bird-like calls being used to signal certain information to one another.
The barricades were mainly made up of chairs, black garbage bags, and tape. Local officials now assume these acted primarily as alarms if someone were to try to get in, rather than actual walls to keep people out as they wouldn’t be hard to disassemble.
We also found metal zip ties outside one of the barricaded doors and handed these over to the police.
Monday 8:55- 9:15 p.m.
As I was thinking about getting close to packing up and going home, because I didn’t think I would see anything new for the rest of the night, another one of my friends, Ephraim Shalunov, rounded the side of the building, and I ran to catch up with him.
One of the first things he wanted to do was check out what was going on in the actual tent encampment that has been ongoing for months. We wondered if everyone had abandoned the encampment to go into the building or if their numbers had grown? If the former was true, how many people were actually left in the encampment?
As we approached, we were told “Camp is closed!” and told we would need “someone inside to vouch for us” if we wanted to enter.
Regardless, we chose to enter the space and were immediately greeted by multiple cameras pushed in our faces and even more masked extremists calling us both out by name. These intimidation tactics were a weak attempt at making us uncomfortable and afraid.
After a brief stroll and several more, highly unpleasant interactions, we circled back to the building and walked through one of the tunnels to get to the courtyard in the middle of Gervitz.
Monday 9:15 p.m.
As we rounded the courtyard, we heard some yelling from the second-story windows of the building. Out of nowhere, green laser pointers shined on us. One was directed into Ephraim’s eyes and another rested on my chest for multiple seconds. Thankfully, no severe damage was done.
However, California Penal Code, PEN § 417.27, states that, “No person shall direct the beam from a laser pointer directly or indirectly into the eye or eyes of another person,” another addition to the multiple laws this group had already violated. Ephraim called the police.
Legalities aside, the emotions of feeling “tracked down” as a Jew were palpable, and we wanted these masked aggressors held accountable for their actions.
As Ephraim put it, these “thugs operate with impunity on our campus. They attempted to burn my eyes with a green laser, threatened to throw people off buildings, and chanted in support of Hamas. Jews are not safe.”
While waiting for the police, I approached one of the first floor windows and knocked in an effort to get one of the protesters inside to come speak to me. To my surprise, they did. When asked what they were trying to accomplish, they said, “we want the school to admit it’s a genocide” adding that throughout history, “this” is how things get done.
I can’t help but wonder if the “this” in question aligned with the Arkansas National Guard blocking the Little Rock Nine from entering a public school in 1952, or the insurrectionists storming our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. People taking over or blocking buildings historically aren’t the good guys.
Monday 9:30 p.m.
A few moments later, police officers met us on the side of the library and took our statements. We handed over the zip ties.
We asked why law enforcement hadn’t removed the protesters from the building yet, The police were helpful, and explained that at that time, they didn’t have the manpower or orders to go in; the university was, of course, being very careful with how they handled the situation, to try to avoid escalation, or alienation on both sides.
Tuesday 12:15 p.m.
The following afternoon, I returned to watch and wait for any changes to occur. I received a tip from another member of our community that the Regents had been in a meeting and planned to have a decision about how to proceed by 4 p.m., so I decided to wait.
For the rest of the afternoon, the masked extremists again took shifts rotating through the building and yelling antisemitic chants through a megaphone at students and staff passing by.
Tuesday 5:50 p.m.
I decided it was time to pack up for the day, as nothing new appeared to be happening. It seemed like university administrators still weren’t sure where they stood.
Tuesday 11 p.m.
I received word via a big community group chat that police had been spotted on campus and lots of cars and vans were heading towards Girvetz Hall.
I hadn’t gone far, in case something like this occurred late, so thankfully I was only about five minutes away at a friend’s house. I can’t recall a time in my life I’ve gotten dressed and out of the house quicker than that night.
As we hurried back to campus, my heart started to race and my mind started to run in a million different directions. The conflicting emotions of being both a journalist and a Jewish activist had a tight grip on every part of me as I sprinted through the parking lot to get back to the scene.
By the time I got back, things were still pretty tame, although groups of students were beginning to gather to watch the spectacle. Also, the encampment was getting rowdier by the minute and groups of administrators huddled in groups, engaging in concerned, hushed conversations.
I went down one of the side tunnels and saw that one of the barricaded doors had been thrown open. It looked like the barricade had been dismantled from the inside out. I asked the policeman posted at the door when this had happened and he didn’t know. I immediately had a feeling that the extremists had fled.
Wednesday 12:15 a.m.
We knew the police were close by, but they were not yet in sight. We assumed that they were taking time to brief everybody and strategize before moving in.
In the next hour or so, the encampment continued to get rowdier and the crowd continued to grow. Their antisemitic chants were painful to experience, as were their multiple attempts to antagonize my friends and me, continually shoving cameras in our faces.
So frustrated were they by our presence, the protesters had 3 to 5 people following us around at all times, recording our every move and trying to intimidate us away from the camp.
It didn’t work.
Wednesday 1:03 a.m.
All of a sudden, everyone whipped out their phones, as UCSB sent out a mass text to the student body saying there was about to be a police raid at Girvetz Hall and cautioning everyone to stay away.
Of course, this only caused hundreds more students to descend and escalate the situation. If the school hadn’t done this, the situation would have continued to be contained to members of the Jewish community and the extremist protesters; now the police had to deal with a much larger crowd, causing tensions to rise even more.
Wednesday 1:06 a.m.
Police cars and trucks poured from around the side of the building and the crowd sprinted over to get a good view of the scene. I made my way to the front and took photos and videos as the police got into position in front of the building.
Wednesday 1:45 a.m.
Every time the police would move, the crowd would move with them, trying to watch the action. Police made their way into the building, and we watched from the outside as classroom lights were turned on, marking that that specific room had been cleared.
The police were in the building for around two hours. During this time, the encampment became the main hotspot and the crowd quickly shifted to focus their attention there, as they started a big drum circle, continuing their antisemitic chants.
“From the River to the Sea/Palestine will be free!” they chanted.
I stayed by the building, hoping to get footage of the police dragging out anyone who was left inside, but my attention quickly got diverted to the encampment when I heard cries saying “Zionists are raiding our camp, Zionists are raiding our camp!”
I grabbed hold of one of my friends’ hands as panic swept across both of our faces, imagining the worst. We both sprinted back to the encampment, shoving our way through the large crowd that had formed. As I pushed my way through, my brain couldn’t help but imagine the worst and pray I wasn’t about to see friend’s bodies on the ground.
When I finally barged my way past the wall of students, I found my friends engaged in a heated debate with one of the administrators, surrounded by extremists yelling in their faces.
Although still not a great thing to see, I felt relief in that moment, thinking of how bad the situation could have become. I pulled a friend aside to ask what happened, and he told me they were simply speaking with people inside the encampment when a group chased them out.
Once again, a disturbing display of antisemitism and how quickly propaganda can spread through a crowd.
My friend Ephraim stated that, “this group of violent, criminal agitators was not engaging in peaceful protest. They were engaging in the targeted harassment of Jews, rallying under a banner that read ‘Globalize the Intifada'” and intimidating innocent people.
When I walked past the encampment, a hundred of its occupants began to chant insults at me by name, while masked men surrounded me. A senior university administrator asked me to leave, because my very presence as a living, breathing, proud Jew was, in their word, ˜inflammatory.”
Not one of the masked aggressors was impeded in any way.
Wednesday 3 a.m.
After realizing there was in fact, no one left in the building, and there would be nothing else to capture that night, I returned to my friend’s house to try to piece my story together and get some sleep.
UCSB then sent another school-wide text saying that the University of California Police Department “has concluded the large-scale police operation at Girvetz Hall. Law enforcement personnel will remain at the location. Resume normal activity.”
Wednesday afternoon.
At some point during the day, other sources confirmed the occupiers had in fact fled the building prior to police arriving.
This seemed laughable, considering their one consistent statement was that they would only exit the building willingly if the school released a statement saying the situation is a genocide.
In other words, they specifically did the one thing they swore not to because the situation got a little too real for them to handle.
As for our Jewish community, we are more connected and stronger than ever following the events of the past few days. We will continue to stand tall and united.
We always do against rising antisemitism in a place that should feel safe to everyone.
All photos by Lily Karofsky.
Definitely not a journalist.
Well written. Highlights the ridiculous, confused and childlike behavior of these protestors, 90% of whom have no idea what they’re even protesting. Our universities have stooped to a new low to allow this sort of chaos. It’s not organized or informed protesting, it’s truly a stain on our educational institutions. I hope it’s the last of it that we see. Where were these protestors on October 8? Where were these protestors when Bashar Al-Assad was slaughtering half a million Syrians? Where were these protestors when the Darfuri people were getting targeted with an actual genocide? The list goes on. The community is getting sick of the genocidal mantra being unfairly thrown at Israel, while actual terrorists and their supporters run free…
CALIB – you keep lying about that 90% number. When are you going to even try to provide the basis for that ridiculous claim?
And yes, actual terrorists are running free here in the US. We saw them all in their true colors on Jan 6 and here in the comment threads.
Here sweetheart, have a look. There’s more and more of this coming out exposing how a significant portion of these “protestors” are either paid agitators or completely and totally ignorant students who are simply jumping on the latest bandwagon (sadly, they missed the cue they this bandwagon is a pro-terrorist one):
1) https://youtu.be/ahDKsCiuVe4?si=UbpPncfZt-5ZZ_90
2) https://youtu.be/GP4AATSb2bw?si=lpEJxJ2WmKctxmbk
3) https://youtube.com/shorts/bN2ZI809BsM?si=RTtyWxOMgwS-Oc6o
4) https://youtu.be/Lx8PQ5ktQPE?si=5K2prX6nZPKn9Kgy
5) https://youtu.be/Fv7YuY2v2n4?si=RJXPJtMLUke8BVl0
The list goes on. You can’t deny that 99.99999% of these protesters have never been to Israel nor Palestine (kinda like you, right?), and are simply regurgitating fun catchy progressive slogans and tunes completely unaware that they’re supporting a bloodthirsty and barbaric terrorist organization who exposed to the world on Oct 7 who they really are (and countless times before when it launched 40,000 rockets at Israeli civilians between 2006-2023 when the world was asleep though).
YouTube, that authoritative arbiter of truthiness!
CALIB – I’m not touching your weird youtube stuff. Provide an actual study/review or anything of credible value that “90% of (the protestors) have no idea what they’re even protesting.”
You keep saying it, so back it up or stop your lying.
Oh and nice dodge here: “You can’t deny that 99.99999% of these protesters have never been to Israel nor Palestine (kinda like you, right?),”
You don’t have to have been to Israel or “Palestine” (you know that’s not a real place, right?) to have a valid concern about the excessive bombardment and killing of innocent people. You’re “retort” is flaccid and useless.
Have you ever been to “Palestine?” How was it? LOL
Also, I can absolutely “deny that 99.99999% of these protesters have never been to Israel nor Palestine” – I have no idea what all the MILLIONS of Pro-Palestinian rights protesters around the world have done with their travel time over their lives.
Keep making stuff up…..
Where were the protestors when we carpet bombed Germany and Japan?
RUBAIYAT – they weren’t born yet, that’s where they were. FPS dude…… Do you know when WWII was? I feel like you don’t.
Some rubes don’t realize that times have changed, and for the better.
One can only hope that this wannabe journalist develops a more objective style in her eventual career, should it be in covering news events. Her complete hostility to the “extremists” and her characterization of their activities as being antisemitic (without quoting what was said by and large) is evidenced in, for example, her calling the Jewish student antagonists by the polite term “activists.” She cannot be oblivious to the historic issues involved here and cannot simply act as though only events after last October count in this tragedy. Being against what is happening now in Gaza is not antisemitism any more than being against what the US did in Viet Nam is anti-American.
This protest:
For the right reason? Yes
Well thought out? No
Anti-Semitic? No
It’s a small point, but why use the term “antisemitic” when Palestinians are more Semitic than Jews? Over 80% of Ashkenazi maternal lines are European, mostly from the Italian Peninsula. I’m only talking nomenclature here, not arguing tenancy rights in Israel/Palestine.
Because that IS the nomenclature. Find me a dictionary definition that does NOT say antisemitic is anti-Jew.
Obviously, the dictionaries are incorrect. Mass media toes The Line.
Labeling all those who oppose this conflict as a person who is anti-Jew and/or anti-Semitic is about as lame as the Jan. 6 crap that went on. Pure garbage.
Yeah definitely, who is doing that? Quick, let’s call them out.
BASIC – while I agree with you about opposing the treatment of the innocent people of Gaza and the tendency of many to label all protestors as “Anti-Israel” or Antisemites, the analogy to Jan 6 is way off.
People who attacked our capitol in the name of a lie are not the same as those who are painting all protesters with the same brush. Totally different in all ways.
Yes, it seems that the current usage of the word is not in line with the traditional dictionary definition:
Se·mit·ic
/səˈmidik/
adjective
1.
relating to or denoting a family of languages that includes Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic and certain ancient languages such as Phoenician and Akkadian, constituting the main subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic family.
2.
relating to the peoples who speak Semitic languages, especially Hebrew and Arabic.
So what? Are you suggesting that there is a more accurate word for people who hate Jewish people?
Exactly what would that be?
Again Alex, you’re totally confusing hate for war with hate for Jewish people. And you’re hating on folks who are anti-war here left and right. Try and get past it guy.
You can choose to stop lying about what I’ve said at any time, which you’ve done repeatedly. You also male claims about facts which are so obviously laughable it’s hard to take you seriously. So maybe you ought to “try and get past” your obsessive need to lie about what I’ve said.
What’s funny is, not only have you made literally insane claims about the facts, like “thousands of civilians being killed for ever Hamas fighter”, not only have you lied with your attack calling me a “warmonger”, not only have you lied when claiming that I support Netanyahu, at pretty much every opportunity you’ve had, but you’re not even honest about your position.
You’re not “anti-war”. You’re just Anti this particular war.
Which is fine.
Just stop lying about what people have said.
Israel has killed at least 35,000, as of a month ago. What percentage of those do you think were terrorists that were personally involved in the Oct. event?
But hey, keep dodging around about numbers, from your iPad, as the humanitarian crisis that your guy Neyenyahu doesn’t want to end, unfolds. I believe history will prove that Netanyahu will be a war criminal, PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE for killing many thousands of men, women, and children who were innocent civilians.
No better than a terrorist in the history books. He’s not doing his people any favors.
This is great. With this response you you are saying that I support Netanyahu. Which I have stated again, and again, and again, and again, and again, that I don’t.
A perfect example of your constant lying about my position despite my absolutely crystal clear statements.
But I know you love it, so I’ll do it again.
I don’t support Netanyahu.
As to your question about how many of the 35k KIA were PERSONALLY INVOLVED IN THE OCTOBER EVENT.
Way to try and move the goalposts. Your ridiculous claim of “thousands of civilians killed for every Hamas fighter” had nothing to do with your new position. Nice try.
Beyond that, it doesn’t matter how many of the Hamas terrorists currently holding their own people hostage and continuing the fight against Israel were there on October 7th. They are willing combatants, so they are legitimate targets.
Last, I agree with you that Netanyahu will probably be found to be a war criminal, just like Sinwar and his pals, both governments have been accused of war crimes.
And you know what? AWESOME! Netanyahu should have been in jail a long time ago for far less serious things, he definitely should be now.
How are you going to spin that and lie that I “support Netanyahu”
BASIC – where did you get the idea (I doubt you can produce an actual report or link) that only about 35-40 (if even that) Hamas operatives have been killed since Oct 7?
Remember these are your words. If true, that would be really important. While I agree that Israel is killing far too many civilians, I don’t believe your claim that they are killing “thousands” of civilians for each fighter.
This article is well-labeled in that it’s distinctly an opinion piece, and not a fact-based article. It does, however, do an exemplary job of distorting which facts it does present, in the following ways:
The author’s use of unsupported terminology like “anti-Israel extremists” and repeated claims of antisemitism with no direct quotes or clear evidence that definitively establish either is inflammatory (the word school administrators, instead, use to describe the Ms. Karofsky herself). Her comparison of students trashing a school building to a “war movie” and a “military battalion” is especially rich, since a Saturday night on Del Playa has certainly involved more property damage and violence than this incident.
She then draws a direct line between the weeks-long encampment and this action by suggesting that the occupiers “had returned to their encampment near the building, across from Davidson Library,” however a even cursory review of social media and reporting from the Daily Nexus and elsewhere clearly states that the two groups were distinct from each other.
Finally, she goes on to equate the protestors to the heavily-armed Jim Crow-era National Guard to support her point that “people taking over or blocking buildings historically aren’t the good guys,” conveniently forgetting Rosa Parks, the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins, and the 1968 Vietnam protests on college campuses. Ms. Karofsky could be forgiven for her omissions, as there is indeed a concerted effort in this country to remove incidents of justified civil disobedience from our history books.
Here are the facts, as reported by the author herself:
– The author circles Gervitz Hall, and feels anxious and scared a barricade and masked protestors
– Despite her anxiety, she enters the building and listens to private conversations (which she paraphrases, but does not provide direct quotes for)
– She picks up metal zip ties that are not actively in use
– She sees a friend (and CPAC panelist – https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=930060745514318) at the scene
– She decides to go with her friend to the encampment, which is quiet for the night
– She is asked to not enter the encampment, which is on university property and accessible to all students, without someone to vouch for her
– She and her friend enter anyway, as is their right
– She is filmed and identified by name, which makes her feel afraid
– She leaves the encampment and goes back to the occupied Gervitz Hall
– She has a green laser shined on her body by people in the building and the laser gets in her friend’s eyes (green lasers are unsafe and can cause vision loss)
– They call the police to report the laser incident
– The author reports feeling “tracked down” and her friend calls the protestors “thugs” (inserting my own editorial here to note that they have spent the entire night “tracking down” protestors)
– They knock on the window of a building and the protestors speak with them, explaining their motivations simply: wwe want the school to admit it’s a genocide”
– 15 min later, the police arrive and the author hands over the foraged zip ties to the authorities
– The author returns to the scene the next morning hoping to discover more news-worthy behavior
– She hears “antisemitic chants” but does not provide specifics of what those chants were
– She leaves the scene, only to return when she hears that police are again arriving
– She admits her “mind started to run in a million different directions”
– She arrives at the scene, which is, “pretty tame” and speaks to a police officer
– She again hears unspecified “antisemitic chants,” a drum circle, and “From the River to the Sea/Palestine will be free!” which is arguably antisemitic, depending on which expert you consult
– She is followed and filmed by 3 to 5 protestors
– She is notified by UCSB to stay away from the area
– Police cars and trucks arrive, she pushes to the front of the action hoping to get footage of “police dragging out anyone who was left inside”
– Room within Gervitz Hall are cleared, there are no students in residence
– She hears “Zionists are raiding our camp!” from the crowd, and proceeds to the camp in a self-described aggressive way: “shoving our way through the large crowd” and “pushed my way through”
– Zionist are not, in fact, raiding the camp, but in a heated verbal debate with a campus administrator and yelling protestors
– Her friend states that, “this group of violent, criminal agitators was not engaging in peaceful protest.”
– Encampment occupants begin to chant insults at the author and call her name name, masked men surround her
– She is asked to leave by a senior university administrator who calls her presence “inflammatory”
One would not be outside of the realm of journalistic integrity to conclude that a peaceful protest occurred in and around a university campus building, where protestors and counter-protestors engaged in an exchange of lively, if sometimes counter-productive and incendiary verbal exchanges, and where students often jostled, barged and shoved their way through large crowds of people. Despite tensions running high and the presence of police, no one was injured and the only crimes committed were destruction of property, trespassing, and one documented violation of California Penal Code, PEN § 417.27.
While describing at great lengths how this all made her feel, at no point during her lengthy op-ed does the author deign to mention why these protestors might be going through such trouble – risking their enrollment, employment and reputations – to draw attention to what they term a “genocide.”
Those are the facts.