More than 200 anti-Israel protesters gathered Tuesday in front of Columbia University in New York to demonstrate against former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who was at the campus for a speaking engagement.

After more than a year of campus protests by anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian opponents of the war in Gaza started by the Hamas-led attack on Israel of October 7, 2023, the appearance of a former leader of Israel was met with expected pushback.

“The decision to host a man with such a violent and openly discriminatory record sends a message that the university values some voices over others,” a spokesperson for Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition, one of the groups taking part in the protest, said in a statement.

None of the individual protesters at the event, many of whom wore masks or traditional Palestinian keffiyehs, agreed to speak with AFP journalists.

Police at the scene worked to separate the protest from a small group of pro-Israel counter-demonstrators nearby, though the two demonstrations passed without any incident.

A university spokesperson told campus newspaper The Columbia Spectator that administrators had coordinated with the local Hillel chapter on safety preparations for the event “including with respect to any campus protest activity and to minimize potential disruptions to academic activities.”

“The event was well attended and took place without disruption or interference,” the........

© The Times of Israel