Students studying at Tel Aviv University held a demonstration against the war in Gaza on Tuesday. In the leaflets distributed by them, the demonstrators wrote that "at 12:00-1:00 p.m. we will hold a school strike and protest on the lawn against the ongoing extermination and massacre of the Palestinian people in Gaza."
During the demonstration, citizens opposed to the protest arrived, including Eli Albag, the father of Liri Elbag, the IDF lookout who is still being held hostage by Hamas, and Kobi Samrano, the father of the late Yonatan Samrano who was murdered in captivity and whose body is in Gaza.
A confrontation developed between Albag and the protesters. The confrontation began when one of the demonstrators told Albag: "You have nothing to do here, get out of here, move."
In response to this, Albag, who was wearing a shirt with a picture of his daughter Liri on it, did not remain silent, waved it and said: "They kidnapped my daughter, don't bother me, you have no God, they took my daughter."
'Unbelievable how detached they are'
In an interview with Maariv, Albag spoke about the development of the clash: "Jewish and Arab students protested against the 'killing' of the Palestinians in Gaza. As a father whose daughter was kidnapped, I was interested to hear what they had to say. I stood by them quietly and did not open my mouth, but within seconds one of the students came, attacked me, and said to me 'Who are you, you have nothing to do here, get out of here'."
"I didn't keep silent and told him that he had no right to tell me to get out of here, and that I came to talk about my kidnapped daughter - while they were talking about Palestinians being killed in Gaza. Unbelievable how detached they are from the situation. What interests me is that they return the hostage and my daughter home."
Tel Aviv University stated: After a meeting with the president of the university, the student groups that organized the protest rally on campus decided to accept the president's position and cancel the rally planned for today. The president emphasized to the students that this was a rally that did not receive appropriate permission and as a result high-risk events may occur for campus residents.
The Students Union said "What we see in the universities is unimaginable lawlessness. There is nothing to do but promote legislation that will anchor the handling and sanctions against those who incite terrorism. We call on all the relevant parties - and first and foremost the members of the Knesset to join our fight against terrorism in academia."