Counter-Protester Seeks to Press Charges against Assailant at UCSD’s Anti-Israel March

LA JOLLA, California – Attorney Kerry Eskenas Schlossberg, a board member of the House of Israel in Balboa Park, has filed a complaint with police over having a bottle of water dumped over her head during Wednesday’s pro-Palestinian demonstration at UC San Diego at which she counter-protested.

The incident occurred a few hours before the Associated Students adopted a resolution calling upon UC San Diego to divest from companies doing business with Israel – a demand promptly rejected by UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla.

Schlossberg came to the campus march that was sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) equipped with a megaphone, which she utilized because “they were very loud and I wanted them to hear me say ‘Long Live Israel’” and “I wanted them to hear me say ‘Stop supporting terrorism,’ which I said many times. I was literally using that megaphone to rebut the lies they were spouting off on their microphone.”

“They were saying  ‘this is a genocide’ and I was saying ‘No, the Palestinian population has increased 10 times since Israel was established’. … Gaza was unoccupied on Oct. 6, 2024.  There were no Jews there since 2005, but they want to claim ‘occupation.’”

Schlossberg said some marchers came right up to her and about a dozen other counter-protesters, some of whom were displaying Israeli flags, and “were staring, not saying anything.  I said, ‘you are not intimidating us. We are here to stand up for Jewish students, for the Jewish community of San Diego, and we are not going to be afraid.  We are not leaving. We are going to stay here.”

One marcher, whom Schlossberg believes may be a student, dumped a bottle of water on her head. There were four police in the vicinity, but none of them attempted to arrest the man who ran away.  However, she said he can be easily identified because the counter-protesters took a photo of him, and there was a security camera aimed at the site from above.

UCSD Police Officer Acevedo took the police report, which was given the case number of 2024-0497.  Schlossberg was joined in her complaint by UCSD Physics Prof. Alex Groisman, who told San Diego Jewish World on Thursday that “I was with the pro-Israel counter-protest group at the site of the rally, talking to other people in the group.  Then around 3:40 pm. I felt that water had been poured on me.  It came from behind, and I did not get to see the attacker. A short time later I saw a man across the quad running away. .. I did not sustain any injuries, but I was wearing a thin shirt. It was fairly cold (probably about 60 degrees) and my left shoulder and the left side of my chest were soaking wet.  I hope I do not catch the flu.”

Leslie Sepuka, associate director of UCSD’s Communications, confirmed that “one incident was reported yesterday, involving an individual pouring water on someone. This is under investigation.” Schlossberg confirmed on Thursday that she will meet with a police investigator on Friday.

The Student Senate later adopted a resolution Wednesday that was sponsored by student Senator Elizabeth Lopez. It reaffirmed a decade-old resolution urging UC San Diego “to divest from corporations profiting from the illegal occupation, siege, and blockade of Palestine.”  The new resolution also “acknowledges the ‘Israel-Hamas war’ as a genocide on the people of Palestine.”

Chancellor Khosla’s office on Thursday issued a statement that the Student Senate’s action “does not align with the position of UC San Diego, which like the University of California and the other nine campuses, has consistently opposed calls for a boycott against and divestment from Israel.”

“This has been the longstanding position of all 10 UC campus chancellors and the UC Office of the President,” the UCSD chancellor’s statement continued. “We stand firm in our conviction that a boycott of this sort poses a direct and serious threat to the academic freedom of our students and faculty and to the unfettered exchange of ideas and perspectives on our campus.”

Karen Parry, executive director of Hillel of San Diego, which operates a center adjacent to the UCSD campus, commented that “at the Associated Students meeting, many Hillel student leaders beautifully spoke up to advocate for Israel and their values, and we had a strong crowd standing behind them showing our incredibly supportive community. While we’re very disappointed that the hateful, anti-Israel BDS bill passed, we are so proud of the way our students stood up to the challenge.”

Some of those students testified by Zoom hookup owing to the hostility on campus. The Beverly and Joseph Glickman Hillel Center welcomed Jewish students all day Wednesday who wanted to avoid the pro-Palestinian marchers on campus. “We are so proud of our students who are choosing not to be defined by the antisemitism they experience but by joy and pride in their Jewish identity. They came together to support each other and built a welcoming space at Hillel of San Diego,” Parry said.

Many community members brought goodies and sat with students and supported them all day, Parry said, also expressing thanks to the “UCSD administration for being in constant communication with us and for ensuring there was a significant security presence on campus.  The Chancellor’s swift condemnation of BDS was a signal of support that really matters and makes a difference for Jewish students.  We are so appreciative.”

There is dispute over how many people participated in Wednesday’s march.  Our source estimated 1,000 and the San Diego Union-Tribune reported it was 2,500. A letter writer to  San Diego Jewish World contended both estimates were highly inflated, suggesting the marchers numbered no more than 400.

Schlossberg was critical of Hillel requesting students to stay off campus during the time of the demonstration and to instead shelter with each other at the Hillel House.

“UCSD is a public university and they were allowing this mob to exist there safely. They pretty much warned everyone to stay away. It wasn’t just Hillel, there were other authorities saying for your own safety, don’t come to campus,” Schlossberg said.

She said she is willing to press charges against her as yet unidentified assailant. “There needs to be consequences,” she said. “Otherwise, the Jewish community is cowering, hiding away and that is not strategically wise. It will encourage these antisemites and it will get worse for our community.  We cannot allow this to happen.  We have to show up.”

On Library Walk, on another part of the campus, Chabad of UCSD Rabbi Shmuel Cunin set up a table and a tent, later explaining “my goal was to be there for the Jewish community. Some students didn’t want to go home and shy away, so I wanted to give them support.  The protest wasn’t on Library Walk, but it was expected to travel down Library Walk.  We set up shop there.  Some students wanted to wrap tefillin.”

“When people (marchers) passed by, there was no yelling between us and them.  We kept calm.  There were police there to make sure that everything was safe.  I notified them before , and they were very helpful.  There were officers standing next to our tent the whole time.  I even had a police escort to my car.”

Rabbi Cunin said some of the students wearing yarmulkes told him they were followed by other students wearing kaffiyehs, but they weren’t afraid.  As the marchers passed by the Chabad tent, “they chanted ‘Israel is a terrorist state’ – all this stuff.  But we weren’t intimidated.”

The rabbi is the grandson of Rabbi Shlomo Cunin, the West Coast director of Chabad, known to millions of viewers as the emcee of the Chabad telethons which often feature Hollywood stars.

Asked if he differed with Hillel’s suggestion that Jewish students avoid the demonstration, he responded, “I know of people who didn’t appreciate that approach.  I wasn’t encouraging students either way, but if students were on campus, I wanted to be there.”

He added: “As Jews, we can’t be afraid of who we are.  We have to be proud of who we are.  People respect Jews who are proud of themselves.”

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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com