Lawsuit claims UC Berkeley discriminated against Israeli professor

Ethan Baron, Bay Area News Group on Aug 20, 2025

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An Israeli professor is suing the University of California after UC Berkeley allegedly blocked her from teaching because the situation at the school was too “hot” after Hamas attacked Israel and Israel retaliated.

A seven-month internal UC Berkeley investigation found the school discriminated against Yael Nativ because she was Israeli, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Alameda Superior Court said. The university had no comment on the complaint.

Nativ, a dance researcher and sociologist, had served as a visiting professor at UC Berkeley in 2022, the lawsuit said. She was invited in July 2023 to apply to come back during the 2024-2025 school year. Nativ, “eager to return and teach again at what she considered to be one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world,” sent her application in August, “stating her intention to teach the same dance course that she taught in 2022.”

Then Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union, attacked Israel, killing killing more than 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel responded with attacks that by early November 2023 had killed, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 10,000 Palestinians.

In mid-November — about three weeks after hundreds of UC Berkeley students walked out of class and rallied in support of Palestinians — SanSan Kwan, chair of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, sent a WhatsApp message to Nativ, the lawsuit said.

The department, Kwan wrote, could not host Nativ for the class in the fall, the lawsuit said.

“Things are very hot here right now and many of our grad students are angry,” Kwan wrote, according to the lawsuit. “I would be putting the dept and you in a terrible position if you taught here.”

Kwan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Nativ responded to Kwan expressing disappointment, and received no response, the lawsuit said. An op-ed by Nativ published in late December 2023 in an Israeli newspaper, charging that UC Berkeley “gave in to fear and division” by canceling her invitation, was brought to the attention of school authorities by alumni, and led to an internal investigation, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit accuses the Regents of the University of California of violating state employment laws on discrimination. Nativ is seeking unspecified damages and compensation for lost earnings. She also seeks one court order prohibiting UC Berkeley from discriminating against her in the future, and another requiring the school to enforce its non-discrimination policies with regard to Israeli applicants and employees.

The probe by UC Berkeley’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination last fall concluded that Nativ’s previous teaching stint at the school had been successful, that she met the criteria to return, and that Kwan, who had initially encouraged her to come back, “discriminated against Dr. Nativ on the basis of national origin in violation of Berkeley’s Nondiscrimination Policy,” the lawsuit said.

UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said “we have yet to see the lawsuit and generally don’t comment on litigation,” and added he could not discuss personnel matters.

“While we will not comment on an individual case, UC Berkeley is committed to confronting harassment and discrimination of all types, and to gaining compliance with all relevant state and federal statutes, and University policies,” Mofulof said. “When those laws and/or policies are violated, the university believes there should be appropriate consequences.”

Nativ was told via her notification about the investigation’s outcome that she could respond and propose an appropriate remedy to the discrimination, the lawsuit said. In September of last year, she wrote to UC Berkeley vice provost, suggesting the school and Kwan’s department apologize to her, and that she be invited back as a visiting professor, the lawsuit said. She also asked the school to allocate resources to help students and faculty manage campus and classroom conflicts, “with special attention and emphasis on issues of racism and antisemitism,” the lawsuit said.

Multiple follow-up messages to school officials netted Nativ only two short, vague responses from the vice provost, the lawsuit alleged, and she has received no communications from UC Berkeley describing “any action it has taken or plans to take to remedy its discrimination.”

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