Californias legal system, like universities, 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.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story 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. California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedInCalifornia Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, XCalifornia Post Opinion California Post Newsletters: Sign up here!California Post App: Download here!Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!...