You can’t turn on the news these days without being flooded with images of anti-Israel and antisemitic protesters taking over some of our nation’s top universities, and California is no exception. San Francisco Chronicle reports more than a dozen universities across California have seen protesters set up encampments, including USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Cal Poly Humboldt, San Francisco State University, Stanford, and more.

Many of these protests have seen repeated instances of antisemitism, trespassing, vandalism and even violence. But you wouldn’t know any of this if you’re looking to Gavin Newsom who is busy either tweeting relentlessly about Arizona, Alabama and Donald Trump or announcing more international excursions.

Here’s what’s happening across California universities:

• At Cal Poly Humboldt, “protesters took over Siemens Hall [for more than a week] and renamed it ‘Intifada Hall,’” forcing a campus shutdown that will remain in place until May 10. The university notes the criminal activity by these protesters includes, “vandalism, theft, destruction of state property and intimidation of University employees.” 
• A Jewish student at UCLA was blocked by protesters from walking to class while a mother of a UCLA student called the university because her son was blocked from entering the school’s library.
• A pro-Israel protester at UCLA was attacked and had a taser pulled on him by an anti-Israel protester.
• Royce Hall at UCLA was vandalized and spraypainted while the famed Tommy Trojan statue at USC was spraypainted in broad daylight.
• USC canceled its commencement ceremony after 93 protesters were arrested for trespassing and one was arrested for allegations of assault with a deadly weapon.
• An Israeli-American student at USC said “she has removed the dog-tag necklace she wears in honor of the hostages to protect herself and has friends who have been doxxed because of their support for Israel.” Another student added, “It’s personally hurtful that I as a Jewish student have to prove to other people that what I’m experiencing is intimidation, hatred and harassment.”
• At San Francisco State University, hundreds of students shouted antisemitic chants of “long live the intifada!” and “from the river to the sea!” One assistant professor even described Israel as “settler colonialists.”
• Sonoma State University students protested with “from the river to the sea” signs while antisemitic messages were reportedly written in chalk near the encampments.
• “From the river to the sea” is written in chalk around protests at UC Riverside.
• At Cal Poly Pomona, one protester held an antisemitic sign reading, “resistance is justified when people are occupied.”
• One Jewish student at UC Irvine admitted that “he is worried for his safety and that of his fellow Jewish students on campus.”
• Protesters at Pomona college chanted, “from the river to the sea.”
• At Pitzer College, one student recalled, “I’ve seen swastikas on campus. I’ve been called a ‘filthy Jew’ for wearing a Star of David on campus… There is no voice for us, no conversation. I feel I’m just being yelled at, rather than being heard.”

Days ago, Gavin Newsom took a break from his red-state Twitter rants and said he wants to “maintain people’s right to protest and, at the same time, do that peacefully, without any hate.” So much for that – many of these protests have been anything but peaceful and are spewing hate.

BOTTOM LINE: What’s happening across California campuses is indefensible, but Gavin Newsom would rather fixate on headlines that have nothing to do with our state than address the growing antisemitic and often dangerous protests dominating California universities. Jewish students deserve to feel safe and welcomed at school but instead are surrounded by chaos and hate. The antisemitic events on California campuses should be condemned loudly and vociferously by Newsom and all California Democrats. Shame on Gavin Newsom for cowering from his elected responsibility to be a leader for our state.