California’s legal system, too, fails to stand up to hate

California universities say they are trying to send a tougher message on antisemitism.

Maybe they should tell the legal system to wake up as well.

Thirteen Stanford students were arrested in June 2024 for breaking into the offices of the Stanford University administration.

One of them was a journalist for the Stanford Daily, the student newspaper. Charges against him were dropped. 

But the guilt of at least some of the rest was never in doubt.

According to the university, the students broke into the administration offices, began vandalizing them, and barricaded themselves inside.

The incident took place at the height of the “encampment” movement, in which anti-Israel activists occupied universities’ campuses in tent cities. Some specifically targeted Jews; others simply made Jewish students, faculty, and staff uncomfortable with pro-terror rhetoric and occasional violence.

The Stanford Daily reported that the students who broke into the administration were pro-Palestinian activists, and that they were chanting “Our office now,” and “Palestine will be free, we will free Palestine.”

There is no press freedom in Palestinian-controlled areas, least of all Gaza, which is run by Hamas. 

Setting that aside, it looked like an open-and-shut case.

Six took plea deals. Five defendants decided to go to trial.

A jury in Santa Clara County could not reach a verdict this past February, even though a majority were in favor of conviction. 

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District Attorney Jeff Rosen said he would try them again — before he was removed from the case by Superior Court Judge Kelly Paul. 

Rosen — who is elected — had claimed in a campaign fundraising email that the case was an example of fighting antisemitism. 

That would seem to be obvious.

But the judge said that Rosen had a political conflict of interest. Many observers felt the real reason he was removed because he was Jewish, and that was the real “conflict.” 

California Attorney General Rob Bonta took over the case. 

This week, he dropped the felony charges against the five remaining defendants.

The defendants have agreed to pay restitution for Stanford’s damages, and to do 100 hours of community service. 

That’s hardly much of a deterrent. 

One of the students will even be able to go back to Stanford to finish his degree.

He says he plans to continue his pro-Palestinian activism on campus.

California missed an opportunity to send a clear message against violence and hatred.

The universities are failing — and the legal system, too.