r/moderatepolitics • u/awaythrowawaying • 2d ago

News Article US Justice Department sues UCLA alleging antisemitic educational environment

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-justice-department-sues-ucla-alleging-antisemitic-educational-environment-2026-05-26/
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u/knign 2d ago

The question of how to differentiate pro-Palestinian sentiment with pro-Hamas sentiment is a central one in the ongoing debate within progressives.

I think the question should be how any of that is related to universities and education.

If some students want to support Hamas, IRGC, RSF, or any other "resistance", they can do it as much as they want. Just not on campus and without interfering in the education process, and of course without harassing other students.

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u/Hyndis 2d ago

Supporting designated foreign terrorist organizations can carry severe legal penalties. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization since the Clinton admin, in 1997: https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations

People have the right to free speech, yes, but material aid is something else entirely, and the line gets really blurry when those protest groups start doing fundraising for their cause.

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u/roylennigan pragmatic progressive 1d ago

Sure, but it's a little hard to take seriously when the US government still sends money to the country that funded the terrorists who committed 9/11.

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u/Hyndis 1d ago

That a citizen of a country does something terrible doesn't mean that country's government is part of the acts. Citizens can do things independent of their government, especially if they have lots of resources.

Osama bin Laden was personally very wealthy, and the 9/11 attacks were extremely cheap to carry out. Boxcutters and airplane tickets were all they used.

The Saudi government does not benefit from attacking one of its best customers, and at the time the US was importing a lot of Saudi oil.