Israel Matzav

Jewish woman forced to hide from anti-Israel 'activists' at UC Irvine

You all remember the University of California at Irvine, the place where then-Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren was heckled and forced to stop speaking? Well, it happened again. Last week, a Jewish woman was forced to hide from anti-Israel 'activists' at Irvine outside a meeting at which a movie about the IDF was being screened.

Let's go to the videotape.



Here's how the woman, Sophomore Eliana Kopley, was trapped outside.

Sophomore Eliana Kopley had just left a Holocaust-related event when she was walking toward the facility featuring a screening of “Beneath the Helmet,” a documentary about the Israel Defense Forces. As she arrived at the event hosted by Students Supporting Israel, Ms. Kopley was met by an angry crowd pounding on the doors and windows—engaged in violent chants targeting the Jewish state.

“I was terrified. There is no other word to describe how I felt,” Ms. Kopley told the Haym Salomon Center.

As the mob tried to gain entrance to the event, one protestor shouted, “If we’re not allowed in, you’re not allowed in!”

With the crowd physically forbidding Ms. Kopley from attending the event and chants inciting violence against Jews and Israel such as “Intifada, Intifada—Long live the Intifada!” and “F**k Israel!” Ms. Kopley walked away from the scene.

But she was not alone. A group of female students followed her as she escaped to safety in the room nearby.

“When I turned back, at that moment, I looked at one of the girls and wanted to hide and cry,” Ms. Kopley said.

Throughout this entire time, Ms. Kopley never hung up the phone with her mother, who was anxiously fearful on the other end of the line.

“My mom keeps asking what’s going on. But I couldn’t even say complete sentences. All I managed to say was ‘protesters’ and she started yelling at me to call the cops,” Ms. Kopley said.

So she did. As the chanting heightened, Ms. Kopley remained on the line with 9-1-1 until an officer found her shortly after. Two officers, who decided it would be best to put on black rubber gloves to protect them from sharp objects, escorted her through the crowd of protesters to the nearby film screening safely.

 There's more. Read the whole thing.

Labels: anti-Semitism, BDS, Michael Oren, pro-Israel students, Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California at Irvine

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:29 PM