The Jerusalem Post

Anti-Israel protesters jab Jewish Yale student in eye with flagpole

- • By MICHAEL STARR

A Jewish Yale University student was jabbed in the eye with a flag pole by an anti-Israel protester on Saturday night, Sophomore Sahar Tartak told The Jerusalem Post.

Tartak, a history student and editor-in-chief of the Yale

Free Press, had attempted to film the pro-Palestinia­n protest encampment set up on the campus.

The visibly religious Jewish student and her friend were immediatel­y met with a wall of five activists each, who did not allow them to pass.

“One of them takes their

Palestinia­n flag and waves it in my face and then jabs it in the face,” said Tartak.

Tartak reported the assault to campus police, but she is unaware of any action taken besides calling an ambulance for her. She was discharged from hospital and will not suffer permanent damage. Mentally,

however, Tartak said, she was in an “awful” state.

Returning to campus has become a daunting prospect, as, she says, “All these students know who I am.”

The protesters had pushed Tartak and her friend repeatedly, and she noted signs of Walid Daqqah, the recently-deceased terrorist who was part of a cell that kidnapped, tortured and murdered IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984.

Tartak said that she told officers that they should disband the encampment, but they responded that they needed authorizat­ion. Tartak noted that the police were outnumbere­d, with only 7 officers to police hundreds of activists.

Yalies for Palestine and American Muslims for Palestine Connecticu­t said on social media that they had succeeded on Saturday because no arrests had been made during their protests, which began on

Friday in response to attempts to remove a similar encampment at Columbia University.

“These students are violating every policy in the books; they should have been disbanded immediatel­y,” said Tartak. “These students have taken over campus, and it’s an intimidati­on tactic.”

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