Things got rather unruly at a recent Thursday town hall meeting at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. At the heart of the fracas was a debate over whether the university should adopt the principles of the boycott, divest, and sanction (BDS) movement, which urges institutions to cut ties to Israel. 

The town hall, which was hosted by the Rutgers University Student Assembly, was disrupted by anti-Israel protesters who shouted pro-Hamas slogans. Their actions interrupted the meeting and stirred fear among Jewish students in attendance.

A group of “out of control” pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted a town hall at Rutgers University on Thursday, shouting anti-Israel slogans like “one solution, intifada revolution” and forcing officials to end the meeting early as they and Jewish students were ushered out by police, a student told Fox News Digital this weekend.

The student, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, said Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway and administrators “ran away,” “leaving behind the Jewish/pro-Israel students to deal with an unruly and obviously antisemitic crowd, whose attention turned to the Jews after the administration left.”

They said police then ushered students out the back door because it was too dangerous to exit the front door.

Cory Rothbort, an attorney with Mazie Slater & Freeman, who is representing student Rivka Schafer along with another student, called it a “horrifying experience” for the Jews in attendance.

Rothbort said the Jewish students had gone to the town hall to “get some answers from President Holloway, they wanted to know what he was going to do to help protect them on campus, and instead they were met with the very same conduct that they were looking for protection from.”

Video Schafer took of the town hall shows pro-Palestinian protesters begin chanting after Holloway said the school will not be severing ties with Tel Aviv University, a school with which it has a relationship.

The most pressing issue for the anti-Israel crowd was related to the school’s decision not to sever ties with Tel Aviv University. The student assembly had previously considered two BDS referendums that would have cut off the relationship between Rutgers and Tel Aviv University, along with refusing to form connections with any entity that is tied to the Jewish state.

The BDS movement, launched in 2005, is a global campaign aimed at placing economic and geopolitical pressure on Israel to promote Palestinian rights. It urges individuals, institutions, and governments to cease financial, academic, and cultural cooperation with Israel. It is a way of isolating the Jewish state until it recognizes the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in Israel. In reality, it is more of a way of undermining the Jewish state and has been rife with antisemitism. Several states, including New Jersey, Florida, and others, have passed anti-BDS legislation prohibiting the government from doing business with organizations affiliated with the movement.

The students represented by Rothbort reported being harassed and mistreated due to their Jewish identity and support of Israel. One of the students recounted being targeted by anti-Israel students.

In addition to the meeting, Rothbort said Schafer was also targeted by pro-Palestinian students at her dorm the same week the BDS referendum went up for a vote. When she woke up one morning to find flyers, “put up outside her room and throughout her entire dormitory on every floor of her face and pro-Palestinian language connected to the BDS referendum.”

She filed a report with the Rutgers University Police Department, but told the New York Post she felt “completely unsafe” and “targeted” for her religious beliefs.

Unfortunately, this type of behavior has become more common on college campuses, whose administrations are grappling with how to address antisemitism in their ranks. Some have responded by kowtowing to the anti-Israel crowd, while others have taken action against them.

What is happening at Rutgers is a microcosm of a larger problem that intensified after the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7. Moving forward, the leadership will continue wrestling with this issue as it seeks to protect students from bigotry.