Dozens of pro-Palestinian students crashed David Horowitz’ recent speech at the University of Houston. The effort was led by Students for Justice in Palestine, who staged a walkout.
Horowitz, the founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, was sponsored by the Young Americans for Freedom at UH for a talk called “The Terror Network on American Campuses.”
Student activists hoisted Palestinian flags, marched around the room, and shouted over Horowitz’s remarks saying, “David, we reject your bigotry and we reject your presence on our campus,” “Zionists off our campus,” “Racists off our campus” and “Islamophobes off our campus.”
Then, they erupted into chants of “Free, free, free Palestine.”
Before the event took place, YAF chapter president Karen Ben-Moyal met with the University of Houston Police Department officers to go over security protocols. She instructed them to allow the line of non-protesters inside the event first. They agreed to let protesters in only after the guests were seated. Despite this, roughly 40 students and Houston community members were left waiting outside because UHPD let protesters into the venue instead of those who showed up to hear Horowitz speak.
“David and I entered the room in astonishment. … We were previously told by UHPD and fire marshals that we had been cleared of any threats or violence going into the event. Little did we know, we would be entering a room full of it,” Ben-Moyal told the Washington Examiner. “Tensions were pretty high, for David, myself, his security guard, and for all of the YAF members being targeted in the room.”
“Students for Genocide at the University of Houston” from DHFC on Vimeo.
In a written statement, a number of student groups and faculty at UH denounced the event, Horowitz, and the Freedom Center as a whole.
“We, the undersigned student organizations and faculty, declare unequivocally that hate in all its forms is not welcome at our University and that no matter when it rears its ugly head, there will be those of us on the correct side of history there to confront it. We call on the University to also condemn the presence of David Horowitz on our campus in order to signal to us and the broader community that it is committed to the principle of anti-racism,” the statement reads in part.
The coalition’s statement also alleges that the Horowitz Freedom Center violated UH policy earlier this semester by defacing a number of university sites with “racist and Islamophobic posters targeting Students for Justice in Palestine at UH.”
“It seemed like the Students for Justice in Palestine rallied different liberal organizations together to protest someone who they know nothing about,” YAF member Jared Knight told the Washington Examiner.
Last month, Horowitz’s Freedom Center named UH one of the “Top Ten Worst Schools that Support Terrorism.”
