Arab Israeli students heckle Egypt lecturer for ‘normalization’ with Israel
Saad Eddin Ibrahim branded a ‘traitor’ and a ‘bastard’ during Tel Aviv University address on Cairo-Jerusalem ties
Arab Israeli students at Tel Aviv University staged a walkout and heckled an Egyptian-American lecturer Tuesday in protest of his willingness to address an Israeli audience.
“What you are doing is embarrassing. It’s called normalization and you are a traitor, traitor, traitor,” a student yelled at sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, according to footage posted on the Ynet news website (Hebrew/Arabic).
Other students chimed in with jeers and calls of “traitor,” as the unidentified student in the clip added: “Long live the Palestinian people, long live the Egyptian people. Be ashamed, you are a scoundrel and a bastard.”
The hecklers then walked out of the lecture, according to the report.
Ibrahim was giving a lecture on Egypt-Israeli relations.
“This stinking researcher came here to speak about normalization with Israel,” another student, who was not named, told Ynet. “He thinks he’s talking to little children. We are not willing to hear him because he’s telling us lies. It’s obvious he received instructions on what to say.
“If I had the chance, I would spit in his face,” he added.
In a statement, Tel Aviv University said it would investigate the “grave” incident.
Israel and Egypt signed a peace agreement in 1979, but despite the nearly 40-year-old deal and strong security ties, the relations between the two nations’ peoples remains frosty.
