UCLA Student Appalled by Peers' Celebration of Hamas Atrocities

UCLA student Bella Brannon expresses her dismay at the behavior of anti-Israel protesters on campus, who have been celebrating the actions of the terrorist group Hamas. Brannon describes the university's unwillingness to protect students' First Amendment rights and the hostility that Jewish students face on campus.

Bella Brannon, a student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has spoken out against the anti-Israel protests that have been taking place on campus, expressing her dismay at the behavior of her peers. Brannon describes the university's unwillingness to protect students' First Amendment rights and the hostility that Jewish students face on campus.

"I am deeply disappointed in UCLA’s failure to protect our First Amendment rights," said Matthew Weinberg, chairman of UCLA Young Americans for Freedom chapter. "All we wanted was a successful Pro-Israel event where people of all backgrounds and viewpoints can engage in the free exchange of ideas and hear a different perspective not heard across university campuses, and the school made that impossible. This is nothing but an act of pure cowardice."

The Young American's Foundation, a nonprofit conservative youth organization, invited Robert Spencer, founder of Jihad Watch, to deliver a speech on Wednesday, but "the doors of the Bruin Viewpoint Room were locked," according to YAF.

Fox News Digital previously reported that UCLA has not responded to the YAF chapter's request to host Spencer, despite filing for approval weeks prior.

"The fact that the school prioritizes agitators, some who aren’t even students, that are clearly violating campus policy and have been physically assaulting Jewish students, over students who engage in the free exchange of ideas like people in our chapter to me is absurd and demonstrates cowardice. It demonstrates a lack of moral clarity and this needs to be addressed," Weinberg said earlier this month.

Weinberg said he was planning to carry on with the event and was hoping "for the best."

On Wednesday, however, university officials told the chapter "that the event would need to be moved to a low-traffic, remote location – an unacceptable last minute change that would have significantly impacted the event’s attendance and impact," according to YAF's press release, which said the ordeal is "a clear violation of students’ constitutional rights."

The group's press release added that "for weeks, UCLA administrators have stalled the approval process in a clear attempt to ensure the event would not happen."

University officials reportedly initially told the group that "it would be too dangerous to host an event" that holds contrary views to agitators on campus who had established an anti-Israel encampment on campus. YAF and Mountain States Legal Foundation pushed back on the school that not granting permission to host Spencer was an "unconstitutional use of the heckler’s veto."

The conservative student group argued that legal pressure appeared to "prompt the university to reconsider" their plan to stall the event, but "unfortunately, this did not turn out to be the case."

"While the chapter boldly withstood these attacks, and things appeared to be moving forward, there was simply nothing they could do about the locked door, which administrators refused to open."

Fox News Digital reached out to UCLA for comment on Sunday, but did not immediately receive a reply. A school official did tell the College Fix that "there is misinformation circulating that the Young America’s Foundation event at UCLA on Wednesday evening was canceled by the university."

"This is incorrect," the spokeswoman said. "The event took place in the designated location after it shifted to a closed, recorded event as proposed by the organizer and agreed to by UCLA."

Weinberg pushed back on the school's response, saying the event never took place, while lamenting to the outlet that UCLA's campus has become hostile to Jewish students.

"The beauty of this event is that all are welcome, and we highly encourage students with opposing viewpoints to come and ask Robert any questions they would like. After all, the only way to move forward and create peace is to have an open dialogue," he told the College Fix.

"Bringing Robert Spencer allows us to present an alternative perspective on the Israel-Palestine conflict as well as the Israel-Hamas war that is not typically heard on college campuses," Weinberg said.

Spencer said in YAF's press release that schools such as UCLA are "radioactive wastelands" of left-wing politics.

"UCLA and other universities today are not institutions of higher learning; they are radioactive wastelands of hard-left indoctrination," Spencer said.

Anti-Israel protests have broken out on college campuses nationwide, notably in New York City and at UCLA and USC in Los Angeles. Anti-Israel protests on Columbia University’s campus spiraled last month, when agitators were seen on camera with a poster outlining that Jewish students on campus would become Al-Qasam’s "next targets," referring to terrorist organization Hamas’ military wing. That same weekend, a rabbi at Columbia warned Jewish students to leave campus immediately until the situation was quelled.

Protests also broke out on UCLA's campus last month,