“Joshua Ghayoum, a rising junior at UCLA, grew up in West Los Angeles, where his parents had settled after fleeing Iran’s radical Islamist regime. He was raised in the traditionalist Persian Jewish community, went to Hebrew school at a local synagogue, and was bar mitzvah’d there. He has traveled to Israel three times, where he visited relatives and friends. He also visits the Western Wall and other holy sites when he is there and, like many American Jews, regards the Jewish state as central to his Judaism.

Ghayoum also grew up visiting UCLA. He played soccer and frisbee on Royce Quad, which sits at the center of campus, and his family even took pictures in front of the iconic Romanesque arches of Royce Hall after his brother had his bar mitzvah. As a student, he, like virtually every other undergraduate, walks through the quad almost every day to get to classes, or study at Powell, the undergraduate library across from Royce Hall­—or to just hang out.

UCLA, like other elite campuses across the country, was roiled by protests against Israel after the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, and the ensuing Israeli invasion of Gaza. But it was not until the spring quarter that protests escalated. From April 25 to May 2, campus protests became full-blown encampments with protestors setting up tents and barriers in Royce Quad between Royce Hall and Powell Library, obstructing access to both buildings, as well as at Bruin Walk and Janss Steps, which lead to the student union complex and the western edge of the campus. Although campus antisemitism lawsuits have proliferated over the last year, the lawsuit filed against UCLA by Ghayoum and two other UCLA students differs in kind. Its centerpiece is an allegation that by actively facilitating the protesters’ encampment, the university violated the religious liberty rights of Jewish students, whose access to public spaces and buildings was restricted as a result of their religious commitments.”

Read the full article in JRB here.