Jewish reporter harassed while covering demonstration at University of Houston

As I approached a group of students who were erecting the final panel of a 30-foot-long display wall on the campus of University of Houston, I assumed my experience of reporting on this year’s installment of “Israeli Apartheid Week” would be similar to years past. Although organizers haven’t been happy to have a member of the Jewish press taking photos and collecting interviews during their event, they still haven’t outright tried to prevent me from doing my job.

This year, however, was different.

“If this man approaches you to speak to you, do not speak to him – he’s part of the people we are attempting to, he’s part of the system of oppression that we’re trying to bring down,” shouted one of the demonstration’s organizers after interrupting an interview I was conducting with a UH student, who said he was from Lebanon and had taken notice of the demonstration as he passed through Butler Plaza, the school’s main quad.

The student who interrupted my interview was wearing a red T-shirt, advertising the hashtag #Coogs4Palestine. I recognized him from previous anti-Israel events at UH, hosted by the campus’ chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. That student worked in tandem with another student, who was taller and wearing a dark T-shirt, to physically block me from reporting on this year’s Israeli Apartheid Week demonstration on March 20.

Their tactic was crude. After demanding that I not photograph the students who were harassing me, the taller of the pair then stood directly in front of my camera in an attempt to block the scene. Meanwhile, the student in the red T-shirt threatened to call campus security. I encouraged him to do so, and he walked away to consult with some colleagues at a nearby table.

As I tried to work, the student in the dark T-shirt became more aggressive, planting himself within inches of where I was standing, holding a smartphone against his chest to record my reaction. I attempted to interview the student, but his partner reminded him not to speak to “The Zionist.” The two exchanged words in Arabic that included slurs directed toward me.

At this point, I switched from writing notes and began to record the confrontation, myself. The taller of the students then walked directly behind me and once again stood within a few inches of where I was. As I tried to disengage, and walked away to photograph the scene from a different angle, he shadowed me. Again, my reaction was to interview him. He refused the offer and proceeded to accuse me of assaulting him.

“You pushed me,” he suddenly alleged. “You touched me against my will.”

Of course, I did no such thing and was especially careful not to make physical contact with him when he was getting in my face and standing on my heels.

As annoyed as I was to be falsely accused of assaulting someone who was harassing me, it came as no surprise. As a reporter, I’ve covered meetings where anti-Israel activists workshop various techniques designed to put their “enemies” on the defensive and provoke them into a physical altercation. I have no idea if this particular student attended such trainings, but his behavior certainly came across as familiar, if not rehearsed.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little in response to this attempt at Jew-baiting. The student continued with the fabrication that I had assaulted him, crossed his arms, opened his eyes wide and began to shake in mock-rage. I repeated the truth that I never pushed or touched him, and he came back at me with some more Arabic, which I complimented him on.

The silly charade went on for several minutes until he finally broke character and told me to look over my shoulder at the group’s information table, where a few of his colleagues were typing on a laptop.

“You see how many students sign the petition?” he said.

I counted three and asked what the petition was for, and how many signatures they had collected. Rather than answering the questions, he objected to my effort to record our interaction and went back to accusing me of assaulting him. I tried to start over, explaining that I was there to report on their demonstration and to engage in civil dialogue with those involved. Wasn’t the whole purpose of their demonstration to attract attention, I asked? Press coverage helps deliver their message to a wider audience, no? Instead, he kept going with his false accusations.

It was at this point that the student from Lebanon came by, paused at the demonstration and agreed to my request for an interview. Moments later, the red-shirted organizer pulled the student away and explained in Arabic why he shouldn’t speak to me. Next, he instructed the wider audience that no one should speak to me, because I’m “part of the system of oppression” that his group is “trying to bring down.”

I waited until he was done speaking, then made my own little announcement: “I’m from a Jewish newspaper. Apparently, that’s threatening.”

A couple of students who had stopped to witness the scene laughed. I turned to the one who was closest to me and was wearing a striped T-shirt, and asked if he were interested in giving an interview. Thankfully, he agreed.

I asked what he thought of the “Israeli apartheid wall” that the demonstrators had erected on the campus of Houston’s largest university. The student, a UH a senior, said he considered the display, which characterized Palestinians as victims of Israeli oppression, to be “one-sided” and ideologically motivated.

“I do think they see themselves as oppressed, and I think that’s an important point of view,” the student told me.

“But, it [the Israeli apartheid display] seems to breed more conflict,” he added.

As we spoke, another UH student joined the conversation. I asked if there were other attempts on campus to promote dialogue concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict.

“Yes, I’m taking a class on Jewish-Muslim relations,” said the student who joined in. “Initially, we focused on all the good parts, and we’re just now getting into how they deviated from each other. Everyone is peacefully speaking about it.”

The class has about a dozen students in it, she noted. Most are either Muslim or Jewish.

“But, there are some people like me, too,” she said. “I’m Mexican. I’m taking the class to inform myself, because of these things [like Israeli Apartheid Week] that happen on campus. I want to make sure I know something before I involve myself or take sides.”

The student then referred to a section of the apartheid wall display that depicted people of different nationalities and ethnicities standing together in solidarity with Palestinians.

“It’s interesting that they try to kind of share this pain with Mexicans and African-Americans,” she said.

Intersectionality is a political theory from the 1990s that has regained currency on college campuses in recent years. According to the theory, all forms of oppression originate from the same source: money and power. To battle the source of oppression, those who are oppressed must unite. Groups like Students for Justice in Palestine are using intersectionality to cast Israel and Jews into the role of rich and powerful oppressors, and are reaching out to others on campus to build coalitions to fight back.

As we discussed intersectionality in front of the apartheid wall display, another UH student rolled up on a bike and joined the conversation.

“I’m not sure how it [intersectionality] is relevant here,” the bikerider said. “Why, because Jews are white or something?”

A fourth student, a young woman with red hair, also joined the conversation. She identified herself as being Jewish and noted that Jews make up a mere 0.2 percent of the global population.

“So, we’re also a minority,” she said. “And, we’re seeing a major resurgence of anti-Semitism.”

The student on the bike added, “That’s why I don’t think intersectionality is a valid argument against Jews.”

Hearing this statement, one of the Israeli Apartheid Week demonstrators came over to defend his group’s position.

“It’s not against Judaism, it’s against Zionism,” said the student, who wore a gold chain with a Chai pendent around his neck. He went on to explain that anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are “distinct ideas” – a topic on which he wrote a research paper, he said.

The redhead student disagreed that anti-Zionism is separate from anti-Semitism, pointing out that official definitions of anti-Semitism include denying the right of the Jewish people to have sovereignty over their historic homeland.

The two students then debated the events that led to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and who was responsible for the birth of the Palestinian refugee crisis. That exchange led the student in the gold chain to harshly criticize the support that Israel received from “three imperial powers” to enable the Jewish state to win its war of independence and to capture more territory during the 1967 Six-Day War.

“You’re living in one of those imperial powers,” the student on the bike said to the self-described anti-Zionist wearing the gold chain.

“Yes, I’m aware,” the anti-Zionist student replied.

“So, you’re against the United States?” the bikerider asked.

“Yes, I am,” the anti-Zionist replied.

I thanked the student for his candor and asked for more information about the petition that the demonstration’s organizers were asking others to sign.

“I don’t know a whole lot about it, I just know we’re part of a coalition that’s against HB89,” he said.

HB89 was anti-BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) legislation that was signed into Texas law in 2017. The law prohibits all state agencies from contracting with, and bars certain public funds from investing in, parties that boycott Israel.

More than half of U.S. states now have some form of anti-BDS legislation on the books, and there is an effort underway to adopt a similar law on the federal level, which would underscore existing federal statutes that bar U.S. companies from joining foreign boycotts.

Texas’ anti-BDS law currently is being challenged by a public school speech therapist in Texas who wasn’t given a contract renewal due to her support of BDS.

Students for Justice in Palestine are strong proponents of BDS – a tactic that helped defeat the apartheid regime in South Africa. By targeting Israel with boycotts, divestment and sanctions, SJP seeks to defeat the Zionist regime, according to participants of Israeli Apartheid Week.

Besides encouraging students to break Texas’ anti-BDS law, organizers of this year’s Israeli Apartheid Week demonstration at UH were collecting signatures for a petition to overturn that law.

“I’m against the occupation of Palestine,” the anti-Zionist student told the JHV. “So, the right to boycott, divestment and sanctions is a big part of people’s right to political expression.”

The redhead Jewish student expressed concern that political expression of that nature has crossed the line into hate speech. The problem is so pronounced that she has reported it to UH administration, she noted.

“It makes me feel not safe on campus,” she said.

As our interview led to a discussion of speech rights and personal safety, the anti-Zionist student pointed to a small table that had been set up more than 50 yards away from the apartheid wall display. According to the anti-Zionist student, the table was erected by “Israelis, flown in by the Israeli government, to silence any sort of anti-Zionist speech.”

I asked him if the five people at that table, which had a sign reading “Coogs for Israel,” were silencing his group’s speech.

He said they weren’t, but added: “What I’m saying is the extent that people from the Israeli government, from halfway across the world, are putting in such an effort to counter a grassroots movement that we’re trying to do.”

I eventually made my way over to the Coogs for Israel table and spoke to the organizers, who turned out not to be Israeli government operatives, but, instead, were UH students, along with an Israel fellow from Houston Hillel.

The students handed out T-shirts that read, “Houston Hillel Chooses Love,” printed in English, Hebrew and Arabic. They also handed out fliers to promote upcoming events, such as “Israel Peace Week,” planned for early April.

Back at the Israeli Apartheid Week demonstration, students observed a disconnect between the message being promoted by the wall display and the hostile attitude that some of its organizers showed toward me, a reporter from a Jewish newspaper.

“The display talks about [Palestinian] land loss,” noted the UH student from Mexico. “But, it was very interesting to see how he [the organizer in the red Coogs4Palestine T-shirt] looked at you and shouted that you’re the person against what they’re standing for.

“All you said is you’re writing for a Jewish newspaper,” she said. “It’s funny how they see the Jewish people as an enemy.”

The student in the striped shirt added, “What they said contradicts what their signs say. If anything, a reporter coming here is what they want – to report on their message.”

The anti-Zionist student explained that the “adverse reaction” was a response to efforts, he noted earlier, to fly in Israeli government operatives to disrupt Israeli Apartheid Week.

I reassured him that I am just a reporter from a Jewish newspaper, here to report on their demonstration.

The anti-Zionist student requested that I mention his endorsement of the creation of a bi-national Arab-Jewish socialist state called Palestine as a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. He added that this viewpoint was his own, and not necessarily that of others involved with Israeli Apartheid Week.

I thanked all the students who agreed to speak with me.