By Wendy Medina. Bay City News.
On Friday, a Muslim Arab student at Stanford University was attacked by a pro-Israel student in what is believed to be a hate crime.
Shortly before 2 p.m., the Arab student was crossing the street near the student residences when he was hit by a car and the driver accelerated while shouting: “Fuck you and your people.”
Authorities reported that the student suffered non-life-threatening injuries and is currently still hospitalized.
According to the victim’s statements after the incident, the driver made eye contact with him before speeding off. “As soon as he hit me, as my body was spinning, the driver yelled, ‘Fuck you and your people,’ and sped off toward me,” the student said. Looking him in the eye, he identified the individual as someone who had begun filming pro-Palestinian activists on campus, a recently widespread tactic used to intimidate and mislead students.
The suspect is described as a white male in his 20s with short dark blond hair, round-framed glasses and a short beard. According to Stanford administration, the vehicle is “a black SUV with a rear-mounted tire.”
University police were alerted to the hit-and-run shortly afterward but did not issue a campus-wide alert informing students of the violent crime until 10:30 p.m. According to a press release, the Stanford administration only issued the “ill-considered, careless, and ill-advised statement” after public pressure from Muslim and Arab students, despite campus policy requiring community notification within two hours of violent incidents.
A statement from Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine demands that the university take immediate action.
“The university must deploy its resources to determine who the perpetrator was, support the survivor of this attack (and others) with specialized resources, care and all the resources they need when they ask for it, and issue a statement condemning the violent Islamophobic and hate crimes against Arabs in particular and with such language that have occurred on campus,” the students wrote.
“Today, Stanford University is complicit in the white supremacist violence that Arab and Muslim students have faced on campus. To the university administration, we say unequivocally: Shame on you. Your silence is enabling violent Islamophobic and anti-Arab hate crimes on our campus and the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
The hate crime comes after mounting criticism of the university's refusal to address an ongoing sit-in protest by student activists demanding the school denounce Israel's invasion of Gaza and provide additional support to Palestinian students.
Students have been camping out in Stanford’s White Plaza since October 20 and have no plans to stop. Among the demands is that the university offer counseling and academic housing for students affected by the genocide in Palestine, along with access to free legal aid for those who are harassed.
According to the Department of Public Safety, “Stanford continues to work to provide a safe campus environment in the context of heightened tensions related to events in Israel and Gaza. This includes additional security that has been deployed at key locations on campus.”
The California Highway Patrol is currently investigating the hit-and-run as a hate crime.
Anyone with information is asked to contact CHP at 650-779-2700 or Stanford Public Safety at 650-329-2413.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the CaliFornia State Library.
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