Arrest made in pro-Israel violence at UCLA encampment
Edan On, 18, is first pro-Israel protester charged for encampment protests
A pro-Palestinian demonstrator is beaten by counter protesters attacking a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA on the night of April 30. Photo by Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images
By Louis Keene May 29, 2024
UCLA police have arrested a pro-Israel protester who allegedly participated in a violent assault last month against a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.
Edan On, 18, has been charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon, and was released on $30,000 bail after his arrest on May 23.
On, who is not a UCLA student, is the first known pro-Israel protester to be arrested in connection to the campus encampment protests that roiled universities across the country beginning in April. More than 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested.
On was originally identified by CNN in a May 16 investigative report about the attack. In various videos from the night of April 30, a man in a gray sweatshirt can be seen wielding a wooden pole to beat a pro-Palestinian protester on the ground and throwing an object into the encampment. On’s mother, Shiran Or-Siboni, confirmed to CNN that the man in the video was her son, though she later said that her son told her he was not there.
A May 2 Facebook post from Or-Siboni further corroborated the video.
“Edan went to bully the Palestinian students in the tents at UCLA,” Shiran Or-Siboni wrote in Hebrew, “and played the song that they played to the Nukhba terrorists in prison!” (Nukhba is a term used to refer to the Oct. 7 massacre.)
On-Siboni also told CNN that her son went to Beverly Hills High School and planned to join the IDF after graduation. (Beverly Hills High School said it could not confirm the identity of a student.)
A few hours after the Passover holiday ended April 30, a group of pro-Israel agitators — none or nearly none of whom attended UCLA — launched an attack on the encampment. During the brawl, they threw several firecrackers, along with poles, wooden sticks and liquids and tried to destroy the encampment’s makeshift barrier fence. Encampment organizers said scores were injured in the attack.
UCLA and its police department were criticized for their handling of the attack. Despite the arrival of officers from multiple area departments at around 11 p.m., authorities did not intervene until around 3 a.m.
UCLA has since temporarily removed its chief of police, John Thomas, from his post and hired a consultant to review the department’s response to the attack.
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