Approximately 20 pro-Palestine protesters were escorted by University Police out of a student event that hosted two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers Tuesday evening at the Center for Tomorrow.
Groups of protesters scattered across the room shouted “Shame,” “F—k you” and other statements about the deaths and suffering of Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war at the soldiers and other attendees in a cascade. At least three UPD officers escorted each group out after the outbursts, sometimes dragging or pushing several protesters towards the side door.
No arrests were made and no disciplinary action against the protesters escorted out will be taken, UPD Deputy Chief Scott Marciszewski told The Spectrum.
The event, hosted by the UB chapter of Students Supporting Israel (SSI), was part of the national “Triggered: From Combat to Campus” tour that brings IDF reservists to college campuses to share stories about their experiences serving in Israel’s military during the Israel-Hamas war.
The protesters’ original plan of disruption for the event was to talk loudly to each other, and organizers from the UB Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) strictly warned them twice — before the march at 4:45 p.m. and just before the event at 6:15 p.m. — not to engage with the speakers or attendees.
But plans changed when an IDF soldier started to talk about his experiences on Oct. 7, 2024 — the start of the Israel-Hamas war when Hamas militants based in Gaza launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing at least 250 and wounding 1,500.
“To see a war criminal with your own eyes is completely different,” said Noor Touti, one of the protest’s organizers and SJP media coordinator, “Therefore we have to stand up and say something.”
The largest turnout in two years
The arrival of the IDF soldiers sparked at least 170 pro-Palestine protesters to march on-campus Tuesday afternoon to condemn it: the largest turnout a pro-Palestine demonstration UB has seen since May 2024.
Approximately 170 pro-Palestine demonstrators march Tuesday around UB's North Campus, condemning the arrival of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers to speak on-campus.
Seven UPD officers were originally assigned to the IDF event, with five added due to the number of protesters, Marciszewski told The Spectrum. No outside agencies were called.
The protesters criticized UB for letting the event happen, with 15 student organizations signing onto SJP’s letter demanding the cancellation last Thursday.
“I think it’s absolutely absurd and unjustifiable to bring active combatants and war criminals to a college campus, regardless of what country or otherwise entity they are from or they are coming on behalf of,” Sheyma Shabna — a Palestinian-American law student — told The Spectrum.
A university spokesperson told The Spectrum in a statement Tuesday that UB cannot prohibit student groups from inviting speakers based on their opinions or the content of their speech.
“Student government-sponsored clubs such as SSI have the right to invite speakers of their choosing, independent of the university, as long as they abide by university guidelines and state laws concerning public events on campus,” the statement read.
Aisha Adam — president of the undergraduate Student Association (SA) — joined the protest Tuesday, saying that UB’s decision to allow the event “destroys trust among our community.”
SA President Aisha Adam joined the protest Tuesday, condemning the university for allowing UB SSI to bring two Israel Defense Forces soldiers to speak on-campus.
“I speak on behalf of students at UB. There are Jewish students, Muslim students, Palestinian and Israeli students of all backgrounds that find this event disgusting,” Adam told the crowd.
Majed Watad, whose parents are both Palestinian, said the IDF event caused harm.
“The IDF is an organization that committed a lot of wrongs, a lot of evil,” Watad, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, told The Spectrum. “UB giving them a platform here on campus is giving a message to the students here that they’re okay with these kinds of things going on in the world and that they are okay with it being on their campus on top of that.”
Hundreds of social media videos from IDF soldiers in Gaza analyzed by the New York Times showed soldiers vandalizing local shops and classrooms, bulldozing neighborhoods and making derogatory comments about Palestinians.
SSI did not disclose the location publicly, emailing the information to registered attendees at 6:10 p.m., 35 minutes prior to the event.
20 protesters were let in after they filled out the registration form around 6:15 p.m., but several were denied at the door, with SSI members saying that they registered too late. The protesters that remained outside yelled, “Shame,” at the other attendees signing in.
Pro-Palestine protesters stand behind a fenced barricade Tuesday evening, booing and yelling "Shame" at attendees that are coming into the Center For Tomorrow for UB SSI's "Triggered: From Combat to Campus" tour event.
Jack Koscinski, SA treasurer and next year’s SA president, told The Spectrum that a group of six students unaffiliated with the protest were allowed in, despite them registering at the same time as the protesters who were denied at the door.
SSI told The Spectrum in an email that the policy was applied “consistently to all attendees.”
“Attendance was limited to individuals who pre-registered in advance, in coordination with university officials and campus police to support a safe and orderly environment,” the email read.
The rest of the protesters remained behind a fenced barricade, with approximately 60 booing and shouting “shame” at the attendees as they left the building after the event concluded at 8:15 p.m.
‘Violent and disruptive’
The event’s attendees and IDF soldiers responded to the protesters’ outbursts with applause, jibes and air kisses.
“You should have respect for yourself,” an attendee told a group of protesters.
“But they don’t,” Guy, one of the IDF soldiers who declined to share his last name with The Spectrum, cut in. “Don’t ask them to speak when they don’t. It’s fine. This is who they are.”
The soldiers, along with several attendees, characterized the pro-Palestine protesters’ disruptions as “violent” and “disruptive” throughout the rest of the event; after all of the protesters were escorted out.
“The way they looked at me, the way they first speak to my face, it was violent,” Guy told The Spectrum. “It’s not just about physical violence, it was about respect.”
SSI posted videos of the protesters being escorted out by UPD officers as stories on their Instagram account, writing “thanks for coming.”
“They tried to affect us, only made us stronger,” a caption on a video said. “Huge thanks to the UPD.”
The chapter told The Spectrum that the protesters’ behaviors “prevented meaningful dialogue and created a difficult environment for those who came to listen and engage.”
“Students Supporting Israel respect the right to free expression and peaceful protest on campus,” SSI said in an email to The Spectrum Thursday. “We also strongly believe that student events should be spaces where participants can engage, listen and learn without disruption.”
Being disruptive was the point of the protest, but the protesters weren’t violent, Touti told The Spectrum Thursday.
“We were not violent nor did we resist, in fact we made it a point not to resist any type of detainment in order to maintain civility,” Touti wrote in a text message.
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor and can be reached at mylien.lai@ubspectrum.com.
The news desk can be reached at news@ubspectrum.com.
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor at The Spectrum. Outside of getting lost in Buffalo, she enjoys practicing the piano and being a bean plant mom. She can be found at @my_my_my_myliennnn on Instagram.
