A published media report has linked a Beverly Hills High School student to the April 30 attacks on the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment. The CNN Investigation names an 18-year-old student (whose name the Courier is withholding) as one of the assailants and contains video footage of him wearing a white mask and hoodie and striking a pro-Palestinian protestor with a pole.
The CNN report quotes the student’s mother, who said that her son did indeed go to UCLA on the 30th and that he plans to join the Israel Defense Forces. The mother later reversed course and told CNN that her son was not at the encampment attack.
The investigation also referenced Facebook posts from the mother bragging about her son’s role in the attacks. Those since-deleted posts, written in Hebrew, indicated that the young man “went to bully the Palestinian students in the tents at UCLA and played the song that they played to the Nukhba terrorists in prison!”
“He is all over the news channels,” she wrote in another Facebook post that is now deleted.
The Beverly Hills Unified School District, when reached for comment, cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. “Due to this law, the district is unable to confirm if this individual is a student in the district,” said BHUSD Superintendent, Dr. Michael Bregy.
The attack at UCLA began around 11 p.m. on April 30 and continued into the early hours of May 1. UCLA has drawn widespread condemnation, including from Governor Gavin Newsom, for its failure to protect students during the attack.
Investigations are ongoing at UCLA to identify what went wrong in the university’s security response and determine who was responsible.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block has said that the university is working with law enforcement to identify and prosecute the attackers.
“The LAPD has committed a detective to assist in our investigative efforts, and we have also connected with the FBI about possible assistance. We have spoken to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón to solicit his help in ensuring that the instigators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
