{"id":1039345,"date":"2026-09-02T18:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T18:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1039345\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T18:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T18:26:17","slug":"pro-palestinian-activists-disrupt-idf-veteran-event-at-california-polytechnic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1039345\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestinian activists disrupt IDF veteran event at California Polytechnic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pro-Palestinian activists disrupted an on-campus event hosting two Israel Defense Forces veterans at California Polytechnic State University<\/a>, San Luis Obispo, prompting a police response and forcing attendees to use an alternate exit.<\/p>\n

Masked protesters interrupted the gathering on Sunday, before the speakers began, chanting slogans and displaying signs accusing the military of genocide, according to student media reports and video footage of the incident.<\/p>\n

The event, titled \u201cRising to the Challenge,\u201d was hosted in a university classroom by Mustangs United for Israel and Cal Poly Chabad, in collaboration with CAMERA on Campus.<\/p>\n

The gathering featured Eliyahu Green and Ariel Saat, two wounded IDF veterans<\/a> who fought in Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7 massacre, who were scheduled to speak about their experiences surviving combat and their personal recoveries as part of a US campus tour organized by the Belev Echad organization.<\/p>\n

According to the student newspaper Mustang News, the event drew approximately 40 students and community members.<\/p>\n

\"AA protester holds a sign reading ”One Holocaust Does Not Justify Another Genocide,” with the last word written in German, as she attends a demonstration in support of Palestine on November 18, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. (credit: Adam Berry\/Getty Images)Chants, claims of genocide by masked demonstrators<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before the veterans began speaking, nine masked demonstrators entered the classroom carrying an Israeli flag splattered with red paint that read \u201cIDF kills,\u201d alongside signs displaying phrases including \u201cUN says genocide<\/a>,\u201d \u201cThe IDF kills kids,\u201d and \u201cEnd the occupation,\u201d Mustang News reported.<\/p>\n

Video footage circulated on social media showed the protesters standing at the front of the room while a university police officer instructed them to leave, informing the group that their actions had amounted to a disruption of the event and violated the university\u2019s Time, Place and Manner policy.<\/p>\n

In the video footage, the officer can be heard telling the activists, \u201cYou are not allowed to interrupt the message and the event. However, you do have a right to be present and to be in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the activists questioned which code they were violating, officers cited section 626.6 of campus policy and directed them to a designated protest area outside. As officers moved the group out of the classroom, the protesters chanted, \u201cHey, hey, ho, ho, the IDF has got to go,\u201d and \u201cStop killing mothers, stop killing fathers, stop killing kids, stop killing doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The activists initially moved into the hallway where they continued chanting slogans before eventually being moved outside the building by police, Mustang News reported.<\/p>\n

Students had to leave through an alternate exit<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to a statement posted to X\/Twitter by the media monitoring organization CAMERA, the university required a security presence involving eight police officers to ensure the talk took place. The organization noted that students who attended the event had to leave through an alternate exit due to the crowd of protesters gathering in the main exit area.<\/p>\n

Following the event, Hillel of San Luis Obispo, Chabad on Campus<\/a>, and Mustangs United for Israel released a joint statement on social media addressing the disruption. The organizations stated, \u201cAgitators were present and attempted to disrupt the event; however, thanks to university police and administration officials, we were able to carry forward as planned.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement added that the groups remain committed to educating about Jewish history and traditions while building positive relationships with diverse communities on campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestinian activists disrupted an on-campus event hosting two Israel Defense Forces veterans at California Polytechnic State University, San…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1039346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[12648,28716,8921,29536,18890,99,50,114578],"class_list":["post-1039345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-antisemitism","tag-campus-antisemitism","tag-diaspora","tag-free-speech","tag-genocide","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-rally-against-antisemitism"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1039346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}