Edan On, 18, arrested for violent attack on UCLA pro-Palestinian camp

UCLA police on Thursday arrested a pro-Israel counterprotester for his role in the violent attack on a pro-Palestinian camp on campus on April 30, the first such arrest in connection with the incident.

Edan On, 18, was arrested in Beverly Hills and booked into the Los Angeles County Jail on Thursday on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, police and jail records show. He was being held on $30,000 bail.

On was identified by CNN last week as one of the attackers. He was not a student but a 12th grader at a local high school, his mother told CNN, although she later denied he was even at the protest.

His mother initially confirmed to CNN that On was the man seen in the footage of the attack. He was wearing a white hoodie and wielding a pole with which he hit a pro-Palestinian protester and continued to beat him when he fell to the ground.

“Edan went to harass the Palestinian students in the tents at UCLA and played the song they played to the Nukhba terrorists in prison!” his mother proudly wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post accompanied by a screenshot of news footage from a local broadcaster. In the post, she identified her son by circling his figure in the news feed screenshot, CNN reported.

The violence at UCLA sparked intense scrutiny of the university and police as observers questioned how counterprotesters could have set off fireworks and beaten and bloodied students for hours before intervening. The attack prompted an independent investigation into the university’s actions and law enforcement’s handling of it, and last week UCLA Chancellor Gene Block was sharply criticized by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) during a congressional hearing for “allowing” the violence to occur on his watch.

For weeks, pro-Palestinian supporters have criticized the police for not arresting counter-protesters. Now one arrest has been made, and more could follow.