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A chapter of a leftist group at the University of California, Berkeley’s law school recently marked “Palestinian Political Prisoners Day” with a message from a woman who attempted a suicide car bombing and was imprisoned in Israel for eight years.
UC Berkeley Law Students for Justice Palestine shared a video on its Instagram account from convicted attempted car bomber Israa Jaabis, who thanked her western counterparts for supporting her cause.
“I want to express my gratitude to the students for their attention and for listening with their hearts,” said Jaabis, as translated in the video. “Their presence alone reassures us—those of us who are freed Palestinian prisoners—that there are people who truly care about us.”
Israa Jaabis, who endured eight years in Israeli detention and suffers from severe burns, shared her experiences of imprisonment and release during the 3rd International Al-Aqsa Women’s Conference held in Istanbul, Turkiye, on November 7, 2025.
Jaabis was incarcerated from 2015 until 2023 after she tried to detonate a car bomb at a location frequented by Israeli soldiers looking to hitchhike. Both Jaabis and an Israeli officer, Moshe Chen, sustained significant burns during the attack.
While serving her sentence, Jaabis grabbed headlines for requesting cosmetic surgery to address her facial scars. She regained her freedom in November 2023 through a prisoner exchange, as Israel sought to secure the release of hostages captured by Hamas militants during the October 7, 2023, terror incident.
Palestinian prisoner Israa Jaabis arrives at her home in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on Nov. 26, 2023, after being released from Israeli jails in a prisoner exchange with Hamas. (Oren Ziv/AFP)
“There are those who are in solidarity with us, those who support us and do not abandon us,” Jaabis said in the video. “Your attendance — in particular as law students — makes us hopeful that there remains some humanity, that there is someone to support us in the future, delivering our message to the international community and amplifying our call to liberate Palestinian prisoners, as well as to liberate societies from servitude and from bigotry which produces populations complicit in perpetrating inhumane laws.”
Critics on X blasted both the event organizers and UC Berkeley itself.
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“Berkeley being a leftist cesspool is not something that should surprise you,” said one X user.
“Muslims must be laughing at the insane stupidity of the ‘enlightened’ useful idiots here in the West,” said another.
“This stuff keeps me up at night. I don’t understand how the world just rewrites morality to fit it’s political agenda,” said another.
A spokesperson for UC Berkeley Law said the school’s hands were tied.
Pro-Palestinian protesters set up a tent encampment during a demonstration in front of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus in Berkeley, Calif., on April 22, 2024. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“As a public university, UC Berkeley has a non-discretionary obligation to abide by and support the First Amendment in a completely content neutral manner,” Alex Shapiro, assistant dean of communications, said. “We do not have the legal ability to sanction or censor Constitutionally protected expression.”
“However, as UC Berkeley has repeatedly informed the student body, if any campus community member feels threatened, they are encouraged to contact the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination. OPHD provides support to those harmed, investigates all allegations, and the campus takes appropriate steps following any findings.”