He wore a layer of clothing with a mask in hopes of changing his appearance before he escaped, and smashed the windows of the building that houses Stanford’s presidential office last June, allowing one of them to crawl and open the door for the rest.
They spent weeks eliciting tactics from online manuals that encouraged them to develop “specific spirits” when it came to protest, if they hadn’t planned further attacks on encrypted chats, prosecutors say.
On Thursday, all 12 people except those 12 or former Stanford students were charged with two felony charges each.
It was the first large-scale claim for student protesters in California, carrying the most severe penalty leveled by the Santa Clara County area. Atty. Jeff Rosen.
Santa Clara County Destoy. Center Jeff Rosen has announced felony charges against 12 pro-Palestinian protesters who broke into and destroy Stanford University’s administrative building in June and were dressed inside before being arrested the same day.
(Suzanne Sulas/Suzanne Last/Los Angeles Times)
You can see how quickly this turns into political feed. It is a Jewish district attorney filing charges against a pro-Palestinian child. Trump will certainly approve it.
But there’s a tough part here. That’s true for me too.
If we turn these accusations into politics without looking at details or nuances, we fall into a Trump trap and argue the aspects based on emotions and partisanship rather than law.
Justice should be blind (although she often peers in), but in this case, it is necessary to deaf to the reasons why these students took action. Like the people on January 6th (now pardoned) who broke into our country’s Capitol and destroyed the joints, these students took too long.
But so is the government’s response when it comes to Israel and Gaza, anti-Semitism and freedom of speech.
“There’s a political game here,” said Brian Levin, professor emeritus at San Bernardino, California and extremism expert. “There are illicit people who blend passionate and sincere political protests to save the lives of Palestinian children and use undeniable symbols related to foreign terrorist groups, or undeniable symbols related to terrible anti-Semitism and harsh criminality. But they are in the minority.
But of course, there is no desire to separate peaceful protesters from others now.
Let’s be authentic – our country is on the brink of lawlessness, primarily due to the president’s claim that his power exceeds the power of the courts. Palestinian activists have been rounded up and disappear into an opaque deportation system, and even US citizens are afraid to speak up (all those charged in the Stanford case are US citizens).
At the same time, the university has seen federal funds being drawn to claims that it did not protect Jewish students. This also applies.
Hate crimes have skyrocketed during and after the pandemic, but began to fall in California in 2023. But it is not for Jews, Muslims or Arab people.
The California Institute of Public Policy noted that “reported anti-Semitic and anti-Arab/Muslim hate crimes have more than doubled between 2020 and 2023.” Anti-Semitic crime has risen by 56%. Hate crimes motivated by anti-Arab or anti-Muslim sentiment increased by 35%.
In 2024, a study by Levin found that anti-Semitic crime increased by 12% and anti-Muslim crime increased by 18%. So this is not a thing of the past. Just like a few weeks ago, South African billionaire Elon Musk, who has no intention of saluteing the Nazi at the inauguration event, claimed that Jewish billionaire George Soros was upset with Tesla, the mask’s car company.
The administration has a clear attempt to use its fight against anti-Semitism as the right weapon and portray all pro-Palestinian sentiment as a pro-adult. But beneath these waves is a deep ocean of hidden intentions that lie in the power to challenge any topic if the government succeeds in breaking free speech on this topic.
What can we talk about next? Voting rights?
If we receive a message from Rosen’s decision to file a felony against these individuals, enforcing the law means that ultimately protecting freedom of speech and protecting us from those political games.
He spoke to him on Thursday before he announced the charges, asking him what he had made this decision as a Jewish man and an elected prosecutor.
“I am Jewish and people are asking this decision for this reason,” he admitted. “And I think everyone has bias. I do. And I think the best we can expect from an elected official is that they are aware that they put them aside and fulfill their duties. That’s what I do every day.”
He’s “trying to play this in the middle” and “doing the right thing.”
Rosen did not accuse of hate crimes and stated that there was no sufficient evidence in his mind to show that these students were Jewish animus rather than angry at Israeli actions.
He is charging them for vandalism, he said, because of the extent of the damage they inflicted in the short hours they were inside the building, they were in the building – broken doors, fake blood thrown around, broken offices, personal items from employees were ruined. Overall, the university estimates it is $250,000 worth of destruction, well above the felony threshold.
Then there is the conspiracy against trespassing and all the foresights that allegedly entered this. They had code names, covered surveillance cameras and tried to erase chats from their mobile phones, prosecutors say.
The “How-To-Occupy” manual is extremely detailed and explains how to remove deadbolts with clover. This is worth the battery operated power tools across plug-in counterparts. Students who are Stanford-style achievements apparently studied and followed the guide closely, following the billing documents, with the building as a case a few days ago. If the Ju judge agrees, a conspiracy.
Still, Rosen knows he deals with students (the age range of 18 to 32 when the incident occurred). He hasn’t gone out to ruin his life or cool free speech.
“This would sound like the Bible,” he told me. “But they caused all this damage, right? They destroyed it. They caused all this damage.
(A lawyer for one of the accused told the Times that his client understands there are consequences, but highlighted that his clients and others have been making sacrifices for months, their housing, health insurance and classes.
The biggest penalty could be in prison for more than three years, but Rosen said he wanted to see some sort of appropriation.
“I’m not trying to send them to jail. I think what I want to happen here is that they plead guilty and accept responsibility,” he said. “Individuals here, they didn’t engage in discussions. They committed these criminal acts. And it’s impulsive, they’re surrounded by the merits of their cause and they care about everyone else.
May we all be very thoughtful as these accusations are being debated. Protest is an important part of democracy, both power and rights.
Do you want to break the lock with clover? As Levin told me, we should see it in “a massive amount of mercy.”
Next, we apply the blind and deaf law. Especially in politics.
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