Haifa students shout down coexistence lecturer

Students at the University of Haifa heckled a visiting lecturer when he spoke about coexistence between Jews and Arabs, accusing him of being a “collaborator with the Zionists.”

The incident, during a lecture by Omer Salem earlier this week, was filmed by one of the two students who interrupted him. According to a report on the Hebrew-language news site Ynet, the two were activists in the Arab Balad party.

“The blood of martyrs is spilled and in the end you get a middle finger,” one student shouted while gesturing with his finger at Salem. “Do you know what this is?”

Salem, a devout Muslim and researcher in the religious studies department at the prestigious US college, promotes coexistence between Muslims, Jews, and Christians. He also serves as managing director of the Ibn Rushd Institute, which promotes Islamic moral values.

“Go and talk to the Dawabsha family about coexistence,” said the other student, referring to the killing of three members of a Palestinian family in the West Bank village of Duma in a firebomb attack attributed to Jewish terrorists.

“They should stop the colonization in Palestine, they are silencing us,” the student added.

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Salem, a senior fellow at The Foundation for Religious Diplomacy, came to Haifa University to speak to psychology students about relations between Jews and Arabs from the point of view of the Quran.

“They came to silence us, the Zionists who are protecting you. You should be ashamed of yourself, the Zionists are protecting you,” shouted one of the students. “You came here to support colonization. You are dancing on the blood of martyrs.”

“Who are you to come here? Do you have no honor? Go and fix the situation in Egypt,” the other student called out.

The presentation was stopped for several minutes until university security removed the students from the hall.

The lecturer filed a complaint with the university discipline committee, but so far no action has been taken against the two hecklers, the Ynet report said.

In a statement, Haifa University said the students “acted provocatively and in contravention of all of Haifa University’s accepted rules when they interrupted the lecturer’s talk with shouts, taunts and what appears to be verbal abuse.

“The university takes the matter very seriously and the students will face a disciplinary hearing.”

Kobi Rabinovich, a member of the Haifa University Student Union Executive Committee, told Ynet that the students involved are well-known for their political views and do not represent the general nature of the student body.

“We’re constantly working for coexistence, and we certainly don’t lend our support to something like this,” he said.