Pro-Palestine Protesters on American Campus Accuse Faculty Members of Assault

posted on: Nov 19, 2015

Students at the University of Texas at Austin want an Israeli professor investigated after he was caught on camera assaulting a group of students engaged in pro-Palestinian protest.

Just before an on-campus lecture on Friday, which was to discuss the Israeli military as an “offensive, daring, highly effective and initiative-driven army,” student members of the Palestine Solidarity Committee attempted to make a protest statement.

They were then angrily confronted by Professor Ami Pedahzur, who shouted into a student’s face before being restrained.

Another man, James Hasik, a weapons industry contractor and grad student at the university, ripped a flag out of a student’s hand and attempted to tear a phone from another’s hand.

Image Credit: Screenshot
Mohammed Nabulsi, the student who lead the protest, alleges that since the incident, Pedahzur has tried to link the students to Friday’s attacks in Paris.

Nabulsi told The Electronic Intifada how the altercation started:

“I said that I would like to also introduce the event where I would make reference to my family’s experience of ethnic cleansing at the hands of Zionist militias.”

“I was prevented from making my statement by a gentleman who increasingly encroached upon me, yelling in my face, attempting to grab my phone, and making physical contact.”
At the end of the video, the protesters began chanting “Free, free Palestine,” and “Long live the intifada.”

The University’s College Of Liberal Arts released the following statement to students, faculty, and press:

“The University of Texas at Austin strives to be a campus where people with different viewpoints can debate issues —including the Israeli – Palestinian conflict — openly and respectfully.

Our Institute for Israel Studies has always strived to do that and, on Friday, invited an esteemed scholar to deliver remarks and engage in critical debate.

The university has existing protocols for protesters to voice their points of view and be heard effectively. We are trying to determine if they were followed in this case.

Responding to a call from the event, University Police spoke with all the parties involved on Friday. My office will do the same. We are gathering more information and looking for ways to improve the constructive dialogue on campus.”

— Randy Diehl, Dean, College of Liberal Arts
Nabulsi says that his group has staged dozens of similar protests in the past without incident.

Source: www.ijreview.com