A Jewish law student at the University of California, Berkeley, was allegedly punched in the face by an anti-Israel protester on campus, according to wild new footage.
Viral video of the incident shows the moment Noah Cohen, a UC Berkeley School of Law student, is trying to film the anti-Israeli protest on campus when he’s confronted by a demonstrator blocking the path, according to the footage uploaded by The Jewish News of Northern California editor Gabe Stutman.
“Where you headed, man,” the woman asks as she stands in Cohen’s way.
“Jay, you can’t do this,” the frustrated law student replies.
“Yes, I absolutely can,” she answers.
“I’m going to go to the police station then,” Cohen says before the woman runs up to him and appears to try and grab him.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey! Do not touch me,” Cohen warns. “Do not put your hands on me.”
As she continues to stand in Cohen’s way, the two appear to get into a scuffle as the law student yells at her to get away before suddenly falling back.
“Jesus christ! You just punched me in the face,” Cohen remarks as he gets up. “You can’t punch people.”
Following the incident, Cohen blasted the anti-Israel encampment on campus as one that touts itself as a non-violent protest until their demands aren’t met.
“It’s peaceful until you don’t comply,” he told Stutman. “It’s peaceful if you follow everything these random people are telling you to do. It was peaceful for me until I wanted to film.”
UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof told The Post police have been informed about the alleged assault and have opened a criminal investigation.
He added the school’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination remains in touch with Cohen as its conducting it’s own probe into the incident.
“Our efforts are focused on keeping all members of the campus community safe, and on ensuring the protest does not disrupt the university’s operations, including teaching, learning, and research,” Mogulof said.
“We continue to carefully monitor the situation, and we will continue to respond strongly to any and all claims of illegal conduct, harassment and/or discrimination,” he added.
The tense situation at Berkeley comes as protests on college campuses across the US heat up as students call on their schools to divest from Israel amid the war in Gaza.
At the University of California Los Angeles, an anti-Israel protester was caught on film assaulting a counter-protester and pulling out a taser against him.
And in New York’s Columbia University — one of the first universities to have a wide-scale encampment, inspiring others to follow suit — demonstrators forced a campus lockdown after breaking into an academic building.
