Rutgers University president Jonathan Holloway and Jewish students fled a Rutgers University Student Assembly town hall after pro-Palestinian students disrupted and hijacked the meeting with pro-terrorism and anti-Israel chants.
The town hall came after Holloway had issued a statement about a March 7 Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement referendum being voted on by the student government from March 25-29.
Holloway issued a statement last Monday, as the results were uncertain, condemning BDS and in support of academic cooperation with Israeli institutions. The referendums called to divest from businesses doing business with Israel and to terminate its partnership with Tel Aviv University.
Holloway attempted to explain during the town hall that he had refused to stop the vote from happening and didn’t want to interfere, but felt that he needed to comment because of the harassment and tensions on campus.
“I think the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is wrong. I believe in engagement, not isolation. I believe that enlightenment comes from involvement and that lasting progress and peace are the outcomes of diplomacy and discussion,” said Holloway in the April 1 statement. “Our partnership with TAU adds to our fundamental academic and research mission.”
Sophomore student Joe Gindi, who attended the town hall, said that Holloway’s stance was appreciated by the Jewish community.
Groups like the Endowment Justice Collective and Rutgers Queer Caucus on Thursday accused Holloway of interfering in campus democracy and mocked him as “a joke” and a “coward” for not saying the word “Palestine.” The EJC and Rutgers Muslim Relations Council urged students to attend to confront Holloway, with a protest leader describing it as an act of worship and resistance though it conflicted with the Ramadan Iftar meal. Halal and kosher food was provided to students at the meeting.
“It is extremely important that we do not become complacent, and that we emphasize the importance of this issue for the Muslim student body,” said the MPRC and EJC.
University president booed by pro-Palestinians
As Holloway came on stage on Thursday he was booed by the pro-Palestinian student activists. An initial discussion between him and the Student Assembly president had to be ended early due to constant interruption by protesters. When the organizers attempted to shift to the questions and answers period, activists continued to heckle, mock, and verbally abuse Holloway.
Activists accused Holloway of supporting “genocide” and “war crimes.” In his April 1 statement, Holloway had said he supports calls for an “immediate temporary ceasefire in Gaza” as well as the release of Hamas hostages and the “free flow of humanitarian aid.”
Eventually, the university president and administration members had to be escorted out of the hall by police and security. Pro-Palestinian activists continued to chant slogans after Holloway’s departure.
“We don’t want two states, we want ’48! There is only one solution, intifada revolution! Intifada, intifada! Long live the intifada! Globalize the intifada! Settlers, settlers, go back home, Palestine is ours alone! This is unacceptable, Jerusalem is our capital. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” sang the anti-Israel students. “Holloway is a Zionist! All Zionists are racist!”
As the activists chanted about the intifada, a call for violent uprising and a reference to two waves of terrorism that plagued Israel in the early 1990s and early 2000s, Jewish students could be seen in video nervously gathering together.
“I’m about to cry,” a student could be heard during the chants.
To calls of “divest now,” Jewish students fled the town hall as a police officer stood at the door. As they left, one urged the others to “stay strong, stay safe.”
“Say it loud, say it clear, we don’t want Zionists here,” the pro-Palestinians chanted. “This is mine since ’48, there’s nothing to celebrate. No celebration until liberation.”
Jewish students didn’t come for a rally or a protest, they came to listen to the president speak, explained Gindi. They didn’t come with posters, signs, or flags like the anti-Israel activists.
The incident was “a poor representation of Rutgers students,” said Gindi.
Gindi said that at one point he heard Arabic chants proclaiming “Water to water, Palestine is Arab.”