BDS activists disrupt Israeli Ambassador to France
Aliza Ben-Nun, Israel's ambassador to Paris, faced a hostile protest by dozens of activists of the boycott movement; ‘Israel imposes apartheid on the Palestinians,’ a student at the Sciences Po Rennes University shouted.
At the beginning of the lecture, dozens of students stood up shouting "Freedom to Palestine" with deafening force, some of whom waved a large Palestinian flag.
The students announced that they strongly opposed the meeting and were averse to having an ambassador of a "colonialist state" sent by its far-right government appear in an academic institution in France.
"Israel presents itself as the only democracy in the Middle East while it has been imposing an apartheid regime against the Palestinians for decades, completely ignoring the international community," one student lambasted.
Another student enumerated Israel's crimes against the Palestinians, noting in this context the blockade on Gaza and the expansion of the settlements, which, according to him, made the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state impossible.
He said that "Israel massacred the Palestinian people" during Operation Cast Lead and Operation Protective Edge.
A third speaker condemned the efforts of the Israeli embassy in France to pressure universities to prevent Israeli Apartheid Week events on their campuses. The speaker also claimed that anti-apartheid activists received threats of murder and rape.
After the lecture was interrupted, the protesting students were removed from the auditorium. The disruptions did not end with that, however; some students also activated the fire alarm.
The embassy was apparently prepared for demonstrations, and Ben Nun arrived at the university accompanied by heavy security. The Israeli Embassy in Paris claimed that after the protesting students were removed, the lecture continued as usual.
(Translated and edited by N. Elias)
