CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A Jewish university student needed a police escort to enter the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s anti-Israel encampment on Friday.
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a student at Harvard Divinity School, spoke at a pro-Israel rally across the street from the encampment hosted by the Israeli American Council before deciding to cross the street and enter the encampment.
Kestenbaum walked up to the encampment and was denied entry by a keffiyeh-wearing man blocking the perimeter of the protest. Police eventually agreed to escort him into the encampment, according to video taken by The Daily Wire.
“I want to let all of you know that you’re not going to intimidate Jewish people,” he told the campers. “You can hide behind your masks as long as you want, we will not be scared.”
Anti-Israel protester at MIT: “Respectfully, we do not trust your intentions.”
Jewish student: “Respectfully, f*** off!”
Watch a Jewish student fight to enter MIT’s anti-Israel encampment. Police eventually agree to give him an escort.
MIT erected fences around the encampment ahead of the pro-Israel rally across the street and had a heavy police presence on Friday afternoon near the encampment. Outside of the encampment, Jewish demonstrators sang songs, and waved American and Israeli flags.
Many pro-Israel and pro-America flags were hung on the new fences around the encampment, as well as signs mocking the encampment. One such sign read, “In this camp they believe: Propaganda is truth, resistance is justified, rape is resistance, harassment is free speech, Israelis are not human, martydom is glorious.”
Inside the encampment, students had many of their own signs, including labels on tents with locations in Israel including Tzfat, Jaffa, and Haifa.
