A college professor has vowed to proceed instructing after pro-Palestinian college students disrupted his lecture, made a menace to behead him and known as for him to be sacked.
“It started, apparently on the same day as the start of the ceasefire [between Israel and Hamas]… which I don’t think is necessarily coincidental.
“There’s a complete business that has developed about vilifying Israel, by extension, Jews. They usually’re now searching for new targets.”
Mr Ben-Gad said it was not just his military service that protesters were complaining about.
“The opposite three accusations towards me are that I studied at Hebrew College, this can be a 100-year-old college in Jerusalem; that I’ve taught on the College of Haifa; and I’ve labored on the central financial institution [of Israel].
“Broadly speaking, the accusation is that I lived in the Middle East while being Jewish. And if it’s illegal in their eyes to do that, I don’t know what they think about people who might be Jewish [and] living, let’s say, in Edgware or Golders Green.”
Footage of the protest, posted on-line by a bunch calling itself Metropolis Motion for Palestine, exhibits protesters with their faces coated, making pro-Palestinian chants and showing to name for Mr Ben-Gad to be sacked.
“As of about an hour ago, I finished my lecture. It was invaded by protesters who came right up to me and screamed in my face, called me a war criminal and a Nazi, refused to leave… they’re masked… one of them…. made a threat about having my head chopped off.”
However Mr Ben-Gad was defiant within the face of requires him to resign: “I’m insisting on carrying on my duties. I think that the students have a right to expect nothing less from me.”
He defended his navy service, saying he was proud to have been a part of the IDF, including that Israel is a “country at war”.
“We’re besieged. And we need to defend ourselves because there are 7.5 million Jews who live there right now, and without the IDF, they would simply be exterminated,” he mentioned.
In reference to the protesters, Mr Ben-Gad described them as a part of a “very small radical element”.
“I’ve had enormous amounts of support from all over the world. Among my colleagues, we come from every possible corner of the world. I have nothing but support and friendship.
“I’d additionally say that I’ve taught at this college for practically 20 years. My background has by no means been a secret. Now we have a big Muslim inhabitants right here. Town’s St George college students are practically all extraordinarily well mannered, and so they have fantastic manners. No person has ever confronted me about any of this till final week.”
“We will continue to support and protect our staff and students, including Michael, who has the full support of the university and its senior management team, as well as colleagues of all faiths and backgrounds.”
