News
Pro-Israeli speaker returns to Berkeley following protest violence
Three weeks after violence broke out at a private event organized by Jewish student groups at UC Berkeley and protested by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, the speech took place Monday and unfolded without issue.
Monday’s event was dramatically different from the one initially scheduled by several Jewish student groups for Feb. 26, when campus police evacuated the Zellerbach Playhouse after about 200 protesters forcefully entered the building.
UC Berkeley ramped up police presence and hired private security for the event, held in the Pauley Ballroom on campus, and shut the building down to anyone who hadn’t registered. Faculty members and university personnel wearing yellow and blue “observer” signs roamed outside and through the building, along with others designated as peace ambassadors.
The Jewish student groups, including Tikvah, Bears for Israel, and Students Supporting Israel, among others that describe themselves as Zionist organizations, rescheduled the event for Monday, saying it was imperative for free speech. The featured speaker was controversial Israeli military reservist and attorney Ran Bar-Yoshafat. About 150 people attended.
After initially condemning the Feb. 26 incident as a violation of the university’s “most fundamental values” and commitment to free speech, Chancellor Carol Christ and Provost Benjamin E. Hermalin then announced a criminal investigation into the violence. Christ and Hermalin said campus police and the university’s anti-harassment office were investigating reports of “overtly antisemitic expression” and allegations of physical battery as hate crimes.
Federal authorities have also launched their own probe into allegations of discrimination at UC Berkeley since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
In a Feb. 28 social media statement, Bears for Palestine criticized the university and Jewish student groups for giving a platform to speakers like Bar-Yoshafat, and said Palestinian, Arab, and other students also faced ongoing harassment and threats.
“Our Palestinian community has been in a constant, insurmountable state of grief for the last 144 days, as the occupation continues to obliterate the Gaza Strip in their genocidal military campaign,” the group wrote.
Unlike the February event, only a handful of demonstrators showed up with posters protesting Bar-Yoshafat and decrying the war in Gaza as genocide. One protester managed to make her way into the event and interrupted Bar-Yoshafat about 30 minutes into his speech.
“Shame on all of you,” the protester yelled before she was escorted out.
Sharon Knafelman, a sophomore, the vice president of Bears for Israel and a board member of Students Supporting Israel, attributed the otherwise uneventful speech to the university stepping up enforcement.
“I think that they learned from their mistakes,” Knafelman said, adding that it’s incumbent on UC Berkeley to set “the tone for the rest of the United States for free speech, that we respect and we allow everyone to come and share their point of view as long as it’s being done in a peaceful, civil manner.”
News
Is now the right time to invest in gold as prices have cooled?
The price of gold has climbed to record highs recently and has remained strong through much of April. And, that growth continued until the precious metal traded at around $2,390 per ounce on April 19, 2024. But since, growth in the price of the precious metal has cooled, with gold’s price now hovering around $2,300 per ounce.
This lull in gold’s price may represent an investment opportunity.
In general, investing is centered around buying assets when prices are low and selling them when prices are high – generating a profit on the difference between the two. So, considering the declines in gold’s price over the past few days, now may be the time to make your investment. But is buying gold during this lull in prices really a good idea?
Compare your gold investment options among leading brokers now.
Gold prices have cooled. Should you buy in now?
With gold’s price down from recent highs, you may be wondering if now is the right time to buy in. There are several reasons the dip in gold’s price may represent an opportunity to buy. Here are some of the biggest:
Prices may rise again
If looking at a gold price chart shows anything for certain, it shows that changes in the overall growth of the medal come in fits and spurts. Periods of price growth are typically followed by periods of declines and vice versa.
But with inflation rising in recent months – and with gold’s reputation as a safe-haven asset that can hedge against inflation – it only makes sense that the price of the precious metal will eventually start to head up again in the future. While attempting to time that directional change may be tricky, buying the precious metal while the price is down gives you the opportunity to take advantage of any upward movement that may be ahead.
Add gold to your portfolio now before prices have a chance to rise.
You may be able to make a quick profit
Gold isn’t known as an asset in which you can earn a quick return, but in today’s market, that may be the case. Don’t forget that in January, gold was trading at just $2,000 per ounce. And, by mid-April, the commodity’s price had climbed to around $2,400 per ounce. That’s about 20% growth in a matter of months, much of which happened since March 1 – an impressive climb for any investment asset.
Perhaps more importantly, gold’s price growth through the beginning of 2024 shows that the commodity doesn’t have to be a buy and hold style investment that you keep in a safety deposit box or precious metal depository for years to come. There’s also the possibility that the commodity’s price could climb further ahead, making it a compelling way to potentially generate a quick profit.
There are other benefits of investing in gold
There are other benefits of investing in gold that have little to do with the price growth seen thus far in 2024 – or the lull in prices seen over the past couple of days. Those benefits include:
- Inflation protection: Gold has long been considered an inflation hedge, and for good reason. When inflation drives the prices of consumer goods and services up – and the value of the dollar down – gold’s price tends to rise. So, it could be used to maintain the value of your portfolio during inflationary economic conditions. That’s important in today’s economic environment as stubborn inflation continues to weigh on the value of the dollar.
- Portfolio diversification: Gold’s price doesn’t always move in the same pattern that bonds or stocks do. So, mixing a reasonable amount of gold into your portfolio (up to 10% of your portfolio assets) as a diversifier could protect you from losses should one or more of your traditional portfolio assets fall in value. “If you have less than 5% – 10% of your net worth in commodities & FX (forex), you should absolutely consider adding exposure to gold and other precious metals,” says Vijay Marolia, money manager and managing partner at the wealth management firm, Regal Point Capital.
The bottom line
Gold’s price has fallen from recent highs – which may represent an opportunity to tap into growth ahead. However, gold isn’t simply a “buy while it’s low and sell while it’s a high” kind of investment opportunity. The commodity can also protect your portfolio from the stubborn inflation we’ve seen thus far in 2024 while acting as a diversification tool that could increase your risk-adjusted portfolio returns. So, consider adding gold to your portfolio today while it has the potential to grow in value.
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