By Wendy Medina. Bay City News.
Last Friday, an Arab Muslim student at Stanford University was attacked by a pro-Israel student in what is believed to be a hate crime.
Shortly before 2:00 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 accelerating. “As soon as he hit me, as my body was spinning, the driver yelled, 'fuck you and your people,' and accelerated toward me,” the student said. Looking him in the eye, she 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 man in his 20s, with short dark blonde 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 after, but did not issue a campus-wide alert informing the student body of the violent crime until 10:30 p.m. According to a press release, the Stanford administration only issued the “poorly thought out” message. careless and careless statement” after public pressure from Muslim and Arab students, despite a campus policy requiring community notification within two hours after 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 request it, and publish a statement condemning the violent Islamophobes and crimes of hatred against Arabs in particular and with that 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. “Their 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 growing criticism of the university's refusal to address an ongoing sit-in protest by student activists demanding that the school denounce the Israeli invasion of Gaza and provide additional support to Palestinian students.
Students have been camping in Stanford's White Plaza since October 20 and have no plans to stop. Among the demands is that the university offer academic counseling and accommodation for students affected by the genocide in Palestine, along with access to free legal aid for those facing harassment.
According to the Department of Public Safety, “Stanford continues to work to provide a safe campus environment in the context of elevated 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 can 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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