An Israeli physics professor’s lecture on black holes was ended by University of Nevada, Las Vegas after pro-Palestinian protesters burst into the room on Tuesday afternoon, Bar Ilan University physics department Professor Asaf Peer and the UNLV told The Jerusalem Post.
Peer said that he was 15 minutes into his guest lecture when a group of protesters entered the room with banners and flags. Students in the room looked shocked and embarrassed, according to the professor. Peer invited the activists to stay and learn about black holes and said that they could talk about unrelated issues after the lecture.
The students held signs that protested the death of Islamic University of Gaza president and physicist Sufyan Tayeh. Reuters reported that the Palestinian Higher Education Ministry announced that Tayeh was killed in an Israeli airstrike on December 2. Other signs accused Peer of supporting “genocide,” with mention of an organization called Tax Payers for Peace.
“Hey Asaf Peer! Because of 1948’s Nakba in Palestine you were able to obtain your PH.D in illegally occupied Ramat Gan is that why you support genocide?” read the signs. “Didn’t higher education teach us to be ethical? Why is administration supporting speakers who openly support genocide?”
The protesters continued to shout, and the campus police were summoned. Peer said that the police told him that they could not remove the protesters because it was a public event and their expulsion would constitute an infringement of free speech rights.
A UNLV spokesperson said that the public event was ended early by a staff decision in response to the interruptions.
“University Police then arrived and accompanied the guest lecturer to his vehicle as a safety precaution,” said UNLV public affairs director Francis McCabe..
Lecturer against safety decision
While Peer said that he was escorted off campus for his own safety, he did not agree with the decision.
"I did not feel unsafe, and I was surprised that the police decided to end the event, instead of removing the protestors from the room," said Peer.
Bar-Ilan University president and chairman of the Association of University Heads in Israel Prof. Arie Zaban called Peer following the incident to offer his support against what he said was a challenge of communication in foreign universities
“It seems that some of our colleagues have lost their moral compass. It’s disappointing and it’s infuriating, but we won’t be deterred,” said Zaban. “Academia is based on the pursuit of the truth, including the distinction of who is good and who is bad, and we are here to present the truth, to tell the Israeli story of the seventh of October.
Zaban noted that while there were unfortunate incidents like Peer’s, they also had “quite a bit of support from global academia.”