UCLA protesters didn’t advocate for ‘Jewish genocide’ at Oct. 25 rally

As some U.S. college students protest Israel’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, social media posts are mischaracterizing the chants echoing on university campuses. 

We previously debunked a claim that University of Pennsylvania students were caught on video chanting, "We want Jewish genocide." 

Now, a similar claim is being leveled against students at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"In UCLA hundreds of students chanting: ‘Israel Israel you can’t hide, we want Jewish genocide,’" reads an Oct. 30 Instagram post. "This is not 1930s Germany, this is in Los Angeles October 26th 2023!"

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stated on October 27, 2024 in a Threads post

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said on X, “New York and California are absolutely flipping red.”

A video in the post shows what appears to be the UCLA campus ("Go Bruins!" signs hang from lampposts.) 

And chanting can be heard in the video, but as was the case at UPenn, protesters are saying, "Israel, Israel, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide." They aren’t saying, "We want Jewish genocide."

On Oct. 25, students at UCLA’s Bruin Plaza participated in a "walkout to fight genocide and free Palestine," Getty Images wrote in a photo caption of the event. The Daily Bruin, the school’s student newspaper, reported the event was organized by student groups on campus, including Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA and Jewish Voice for Peace at UCLA.

Dan Gold, executive director of Hillel at UCLA, a group that aims to "be the home away from home at UCLA for all Jewish students," objected to the chant, "We charge you with genocide," while also acknowledging in an Oct. 27 statement that "many social media posts misquoted the chant as, ‘We want Jewish genocide.’"

"The actual rhetoric and language against Israel and Jews were equally unacceptable," Gold said in the statement. 

But claims protesters chanted, "We want Jewish genocide" are False.