Irish university students abuse Israel lecturer

Anti-Israel activists at the University of Galway have caused a stir after a video showing them haranguing a British professor invited to talk about Israel went viral.

A short clip showing pro-Palestinian student Joseph Loughnane shouting and swearing at BICOM’s Prof. Alan Johnson had had over 20,000 views only days after being posted.

In it, he can be heard telling Johnson to “get the f**k off our campus” as several other pro-Palestinian supporters banged the table behind him.

“I’ve never experienced anything like it,” said Johnson, who blamed anti-Israel intellectuals for encouraging this kind of behaviour.

“Those students have swallowed the lies that ‘Zionism is racism’, that evil Jews ‘ethnically cleansed’ the Palestinians in 1948, built an ‘Apartheid State’ and are now committing a slow genocide in Gaza,” he said.

“If you believe all that then you will also think it is your duty to deny me a platform and to assault Zionists.”

A statement from the university pledged to investigate, with spokesman Tomás Ó Síocháin saying: “The behaviour portrayed is unacceptable and has no place at any forum of discussion or debate.”

Whilst Johnson said the university’s statement was welcome, he added: “It is vital that intimidation does not become normalised on the campus of NUI Galway. Perhaps this will be a wake-up call.”