The University of Texas is reviewing a Nov. 13 incident in which members of the Palestine Solidarity Committee claim they faced physical intimidation from a UT faculty member and a self-identified scholar while protesting a campus event hosted by the Institute for Israeli Studies.
A YouTube video of the encounter posted by the protesters began circulating shortly after it occurred. The faculty member involved, Galit Pedahzur, is a senior program coordinator at the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies. Pedahzur is seen in the video pressing his face against the face of one of the protesters, Mohammed Nabulsi. Pedahzur said in a statement following the incident that the video is “heavily doctored,” he never touched Nabulsi and he was pushed by the protesters. The self-identified scholar is seen in the video ripping the protesters’ flag out of their hands.
According to a statement in the video, the protesters planned to make a “two-minute statement and then immediately leave,” adding that they “have made these short disruptions at other events at UT.” The event was titled “The Origin of a Species: The Birth of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Military Culture” and featured Gil-Li Vardi, a lecturer in the History Department and Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
“I stood in front of Mr. Nabulsi in an attempt to make him shout directly at my face,” Pedahzur said in his statement. “…I didn’t touch Nabulsi. Quite the contrary, his followers who surrounded him started pushing me around. A minute or two later they suddenly left.”
Pedahzur went on to say in his statement that he is pressing charges in the matter and received a threatening voicemail from an unknown caller following the incident.
The protesters said in a Nov. 16 statement that they were “met with physical force and intimidation.”
“A UT Austin professor as well as an attendee escalated what was supposed to be a reading of a prepared two-minute statement, culminating in professor Ami Pedahzur physically pressing his body against a PSC member, nose-to-nose in a move to physically intimidate the student. Pedahzur had to be restrained by 3 people (5:15),” the protesters said in the statement.
The protesters went on to say in the statement that they were detained by police for 40 minutes following the incident and one member received a trespass warning because he is no longer a student. The group posted a Nov. 18 update stating that they have started a legal fund to protect their members and pursue legal action against Pedahzur.
UT said in a Nov. 17 statement that it is reviewing the incident and subsequent social media postings, stressing the importance it puts on freedom of speech.
“The University of Texas at Austin strongly defends and supports free speech for all members of the university community. We will be guided by those values as we review the recent events,” UT President Gregory Fenves said in the statement.
