Uproar as Ben Gurion U. students hold provocative pro-Palestinian rally

“The images we saw this morning are unbelievable.”

By David Hellerman, World Israel News

Israeli officials denounced a pro-Palestinian rally held at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba on Monday.

Arab students waved Palestinian flags and sang nationalist songs while Jewish students held a counter-demonstration. The opposing demonstrations were kept separate by police and no violence was reported. Non-students were prevented from entering the campus.

The rally came after the university administration refused to permit rally on May 15, the day Palestinians mark as Nakba Day.

Beersheba mayor Ruvik Danilovich denounced the rally as a “disgrace.”

In a letter to university president Daniel Chamovitz, the mayor wrote, “The Palestinian flag is being proudly raised and songs sung praising Israel’s enemies whose only desire is to destroy it.”

The letter also called on Chamovitz to “make a clear statement about the matter.”

Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton said the Council for Higher Education, the supervising body Israel’s universities and colleges, would look into the rally as potential incitement.

“The images we saw this morning are unbelievable,” she said.

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