Around 100 students participated in an anti-Israel protest at the Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus in Jerusalem on Tuesday, waving PLO flags and chanting inflammatory slogans, according to Hebrew media reports.
Kan News shared video of the demonstration to its X account, quoting some of the slogans being chanted, such as “there is no solution but to expel the occupier” and “Al Aqsa has been redeemed in spirit and blood.”
באוניברסיטה העברית מתקיימת "שביתת מחאה נגד ההשמדה בעזה" ביוזמת תא חד"ש. הסטודנטים קראו קריאות "אין פתרון מלבד הוצאת הכובש" ו"ברוח ודם נפדה את אל אקצא" והניפו דגלי אש"ף. אם תרצו: "התיעודים מזעזעים. הנהלת האוניברסיטה חייבת להכניס את המשטרה לקמפוס ולעצור את המסיתים"@VeredPelman pic.twitter.com/2OvfU1oRqW
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 28, 2024
The students were protesting against “the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” calling it “the first of additional protest steps planned against the ongoing massacre,” according to Ynet.
The protest was organized by students from the Hadash faction, a far left-wing Arab-Israeli political party.
The pro-Israel Im Tirtzu movement held a counter-protest, with students waving Israeli flags and singing the national anthem, “Hatikvah.”
The Hadash protest drew strong condemnation from Yisrael Beiteinu party head MK Avigdor Liberman and other political leaders.
“It is inconceivable that the Hebrew University allows a disgraceful demonstration of terror supporters, waving Palestinian flags in the heart of the university campus while our heroic soldiers are fighting on the battlefield,” said Liberman.
He called on the university’s leadership to “immediately suspend” the protesters, threatening to “take all the steps available to us in the Knesset to delay all their budgets” if they refuse to do so.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also condemned the protest.
“There will be zero tolerance for lawlessness on my watch,” he wrote, praising police for dispersing the protest.
משבח את שוטרי משטרת ישראל שפיזרו את ההפגנה הבלתי חוקית באוניברסיטה העברית תוך כדי שהניפו דגלי אויב – במשמרת שלי תהיה אפס סובלנות כלפי הפרות חוק.
לצערי ההפגנה התנהלה זמן רב – רב מידי, וכל זה באישור האוניברסיטה כאשר השוטרים נותרו בחוץ.
אני קורא לשר החינוך יואב קיש ולהנהלת…
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 28, 2024
Ben-Gvir criticized the university for not allowing police in sooner, and called on Education Minister Yoav Kish and the university’s administration to crack down on illegal activities on campus.
National Union of Students chairman Elchanan Pellaheimer said that the incident was evidence of “unimaginable neglect” at the university. He called for new legislation and sanctions against “inciters of terror,” adding, “We call on all relevant parties, first and foremost the members of the Knesset, to join our struggle against terror in academia.”