National media covers SJSU antisemitic melee, crickets from local media
Image by JCRC Bay Area
Widely read website the College Fix notes below that the Merc and San Jose State's student newspaper have yet to acknowledge Monday's explosive antisemitic protest against Jewish speaker Dr. Jeffrey Blutinger. Blutinger advocates for peaceful Middle East resolution, and has gone on record to condemn “anti-Palestinian prejudice” along with antisemitism. Vitriolic SJSU protesters' goal on Monday was to “Show SJSU that Zionists are not welcome here.”
A guest lecture by a Jewish professor on Monday at San Jose State University turned physical when police were forced to contain a rowdy crowd of protesters and protect the scholar as he exited the building, pictures and video posted on social media show.
Cal State Long Beach history Professor Jeffrey Blutinger gave a talk at SJSU billed as “exploring next steps toward peace in the Middle East” and titled “Constructing a Just Solution: Where Israelis and Palestinians Go From Here.”
According to a memo sent Tuesday by the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, the event “was moved to a different location, but within 20 minutes of the lecture starting, the protests grew too large [and Bluntinger] had to stop speaking and leave via police escort for safety concerns.”
The Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco and Contra Costa counties posted on X a couple of pictures and videos of a protest spawned by the lecture, including a 12-second video taken inside a hallway in which police can be seen yelling “back up” to protesters and using their arms and bodies to impede demonstrators’ progress as some shoving and a bit of chaos ensues.
Another picture shows Blutinger leaving the building flanked by at least three officers. …
A screenshot of protesters’ organization materials stated: “Come early, bring signs and kufeyyas. Show SJSU that Zionists are not welcome here. SJSU has invited to speak on Palestine in the midst of a genocide.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, the mainstream Mercury News regional newspaper and the student newspaper The Spartan Daily had yet to report on the melee.
This article originally appeared in the College Fix. Read the whole thing here.
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