This week, a group of pro-Palestinian protestors at UC Berkeley disrupted a speaking event featuring IDF soldier Ran Bar Yoshefat. The protestors screamed slurs like “dirty Jews” and “pigs” at Jewish attendees.
The venue for the event had to be changed at the last minute for safety reasons — but they didn’t stop the rowdy protestors from finding the new location.
“Within five minutes or so of them getting there, they started to get really aggressive, pushing toward the doors,” said Elijah Feldman, a UC Berkeley junior and Students Supporting Israel board member.
Approximately 200 people disrupted the on-campus talk.
From Fox News:
Protesters blocked the doors of the venue, prohibiting many attendees from entering or exiting the building. Sharon Knafelman, UC Berkeley sophomore and Students Supporting Israel member, shared that only about one-third of projected attendees made it inside the venue due to the “barrage” of protesters.
Knafelman claims she asked UCPD officers to escort her and several friends into the event hall, and they refused, leaving them to enter through the group of protesters alone. She tells Fox News two of her friends were physically assaulted while entering the venue.
“I enter the building, and I am full of anxiety. All of us feel panicked because we see the mob outside, and we understand there’s a threat to our safety.” says Knafelman.
Pro-Palestinian protesters shouted several derogatory terms at students who attended the event, including, “dirty Jews,” “Nazi” and “pigs.”
“This was being used in Europe against Jews centuries ago. We were called dirty pigs, even swine, and it’s being used at us again,” says Knafelman.
Shortly after Yoshefat took the stage, protesters broke several windows and were able to force their way through the doors past UCPD officers and rushed the event room.
UCPD evacuated the speaker and students who were attending through a back exit for their protection. Knafelman says she was evacuated with the other students.
“I think that experience in itself – that I had to be hidden, almost, as a Jewish student in a university that’s public, that I pay for, that I’m a part of, makes me feel like I’m not safe here and I’m not welcome here.”
Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Benjamin Hermalin apologized for the disruption.
“We write to you today with great sadness, concern, and dismay in the wake of an incident on our campus last night, an incident that violated not only our rules, but also some of our most fundamental values,” the officials said.
“We want to express our deep remorse and sympathy to those students and members of the public who were in the building, fearing for their safety,” they stated.
Watch student reactions and the shocking footage above.
Jewish students at UC Berkeley fight against campus antisemitism: 'We're not hiding anymore' https://t.co/u5j4a1l86s
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