Image courtesy of Alexandra Orbuch
At approximately 7:00 pm on Tuesday, February 22, Jewish students began to make their way into the Center for Jewish Life (CJL) for evening prayer services. Their walk was interrupted by shouts from the Princeton Committee on Palestine (PCP). PCP’s demonstration came on the heels of antisemitic controversies surrounding the group’s programming and past comments.
The evening began with fifteen PCP-affiliated students organizing at the CJL’s entrance. As Jewish students filed into the CJL for evening prayer services around the same time, protestors began shouting at those entering the building and chanting anti-Israel slogans. Ty Kay ‘24, student leader of the Jewish prayer group, expressed discomfort at PCP’s presence outside the CJL as students began prayers. “Walking into evening prayers, I was distracted by the events that were beginning to unfold outside,” he told the Tory.
Protestors Gathered Outside the Center for Jewish Life (CJL)
PCP had allegedly gathered outside the CJL to protest University-affiliated internships in Israel. That evening, the CJL hosted the “Israel Summer Program Fair.” The event featured summer internships and travel opportunities in Israel sponsored by groups that included the Arava Institute – a “leading environmental studies and research institute for Jordanians, Palestinians and Israelis” – and the Yahel Fellowship – a group that works “to create a nuanced conversation and engagement with Israel that is informed by the work of social change makers.”
A Flier Advertising the Job Fair
According to PCP co-vice president Harshini Abbaraju ‘22, “the protest was organized to “express opposition to University-facilitated summer programs in the apartheid State of Israel.” According to the CJL, none of the opportunities promoted were located beyond the historic Green Line of Israel’s borders: the pre-1967 borders of the State of Israel.
Many Jewish students and witnesses believed aspects of the PCP’s protest crossed the line into antisemitism. One protestor’s sign read “From the River to the Sea,” an anti-Israel slogan that calls for a Palestinian State from the Jordanian River to the Mediterranean Sea. By definition, such a state would result in the destruction of the State of Israel. For that reason, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has associated the slogan with antisemitism, and CNN News recently fired a commentator for using the phrase.
“The ‘From the River to the Sea’ argument is a call for ethnic cleansing in our Jewish homeland. Bringing this antisemitic argument onto the lawn of a beloved Jewish institution is aggressive, divisive and horribly wrong,” said Rabbi Eitan Webb, University Chaplain and Director of the Scharf Family Chabad at Princeton in an interview with the Tory.
Another of the group’s chants – “Jaffa, not Tel Aviv” – called for the Palestinian replacement of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 by Jews on desert land.
Interviews with protestors revealed antisemitic rhetoric. In an interview with the Tory, PCP co-vice president Eric Periman ‘23 declined to accept the existence or legitimacy of the State of Israel. While he said he has “always been interested in the Middle East region,” he claims to have recently been “awakening [to] one of the worst human rights abuses in contemporary history.” In the interview, Periman gestured towards the CJL and referred to “you guys,” as he accused Israel of human rights abuses. According to the U.S. State Department, applying double standards to the State of Israel and denying Jewish people a right to self-determination is considered antisemitic.
Other members of the protest were recorded using expletives against pro-Israel students. Two students accused Abbaraju of a verbal attack. One student, who requested anonymity to avoid further harassment, claims Abbaraju jeered at him and called him a Zionist apologist. Another student, Aaron Cohen ‘23, accused Abbaraju of shouting expletives at him. “It’s a protest, not a dialogue,” she is reported to have told him.
In an email to the Tory, Abbaraju claimed the accusations are not “materially accurate.” She wrote that her response to Cohen was triggered by her feeling of vulnerability as a “South Asian member of PCP.” In her email, Abbaraju also accused other pro-Israel students of attempting “to derail our principled, ODUS-monitored demonstration with bad-faith questions.” Her email additionally accused Israel of legitimizing and acting as an “ethnostate [sic] that oppresses and ethnically cleanses a specific portion of the population through a myriad policies and practices constituting apartheid.”
At approximately 8:00 pm, one hour after the protest began, Jewish students began gathering across the CJL lawn in a gathering of unity. The roughly 20 students held up Israeli flags and joined together in song, opening with Israel’s national anthem. Jacob Katz ‘23, the organizer of the counter-protest and an Israeli military veteran, spoke before the group and encouraged his peers to “not stand down in the face of intimidation,” and to stand up for dialogue. His speech was interrupted by PCP chants.
Jewish Students Gathering Outside the CJL
By 9:00 pm, the protestors had dispersed. After antisemitic attacks on Princeton’s campus in May 2021 and PCP’s recent antisemitism controversies, many Jewish students remain on edge waiting for PCP’s next move. To these students, Rabbi Webb offered a warming message. “[We must] overwhelm hate with aggressive love,” he said. “That is how we will ultimately prevail.”
Adam Hoffman ’23 and Emma Limor ’25 contributed to this piece.
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