On 17th November (Friday), the University College debate in Ireland’s capital Dublin on the ongoing Palestine conflict witnessed chaotic scenes with some Muslim students shouting down Jewish students and reportedly threatening them of large-scale violence. Several videos of the chaotic debate have gone viral on the internet. Many X users while sharing the anti-semitic incident asserted that the pro-Palestine students gave threats that they will repeat the horrific terror attacks of 7th October against Israel again and again while chanting “Allahu Akbar”, as can be heard from the viral videos.
In Ireland at Dublin University a Muslim student threatened Jewish students: “We will do what happened on October 7th again and again. Allah Akbar!" These fanatics cannot live in Europe, they must be expelled en masse now. pic.twitter.com/WRK0BC6U5F
— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) November 17, 2023
During a debate last night at @ucddublin a Muslim student began screaming at a Jewish student “We will do what happened on October 7th Again and Again. Allahu Akbar.”
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) November 17, 2023
The Jewish student responded “I only have love for everyone, Jews, Muslim, do you have love for me?” pic.twitter.com/6hvd0TuwxI
Notably, the incident unfolded during a debate hosted by the University’s Literary & Historical Society. The topic of the debate was “This House believes that the West has failed Palestine.” Initially, it was a three-on-three debate but after hours of confusion it became one-on-one with Richard Boyd Barrett hailing from People Before Profit debating against Natasha Hausdorff of UK Lawyers for Israel.
Hours before the debate, two people who were supposed to advocate against the motion pulled out of the debate. As a debater supporting Palestine’s cause was Ibrahim Halawa who was supposed to debate alongside Boyd Barrett. Halawa who hails from Firhouse in Dublin, was arrested during a protest in 2013 for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood’s (announced terror outfits by many countries) Mohamed Morsi. Halawa spent more than four years in various Cairo jails before being exonerated by an Egyptian court.
Meanwhile, pro-Israel commentator Mark Humphrys had to back out to allow the debate to be held in one-on-one format as Natasha Hausdorff refused to debate considering Halawa’s past record.
In several videos circulating on social media, some people can be heard shouting “get out” while many attendees are seen being escorted out of the Fitzgerald Chamber where the debate was being held.
In these videos, a man can also be heard repeatedly shouting Allahu Akbar and making aggressive gestures, which prompted the security to intervene. In an audio recording with unclear quality, there appears to be a verbal confrontation involving him and another female student. Some individuals, who have shared videos related to the incident, claim that the targeted student is of Jewish descent. However, due to the audio’s ambiguity, the exact verbal exchange could not be established.
However, an Irish NGO supporting Israel wrote, “Our speaker Natasha Hausdorff managed to give a very informative talk about Israel at a debate last night at University College Dublin before it descended into chaos when a man in the the audience began to shake his fist and shout ‘Alahu Akbar’ at an Israeli student present.”
These are clearly shocking images. Past the chaos you can clearly hear a man proudly shouting at a Jewish student we will do what happened on October 7 AGAIN and AGAIN Allah huakbar! She responds with “I have only love for everyone, Jews, Muslim, do you have for me?”
— Ireland Israel Alliance (@irlisrAlliance) November 17, 2023
It added, “These are clearly shocking images. Past the chaos you can clearly hear a man proudly shouting at a Jewish student, ‘we will do what happened on October 7 AGAIN and AGAIN Allah hu akbar!’ ”
However, she responded to the hecklers saying “I have only love for everyone, Jews, Muslim, do you have for me?”
The Literary & Historical Society stated that the event had been “controlled at all times” but the post-debate Q&A finished early “due to active crowd interjections at the end” because it was difficult for speakers to be heard. “We understand that ‘chaos’ sounds better in a headline, but in reality there were simply some crowd interjections towards the end,” the L&H was quoted saying by Irish media The Journal.
Israel Hamas war
It is important to note that on 7th October thousands of Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel killing more than 1,200 while maiming thousands and taking more than 250 Israeli and foreign nationals as hostages to Gaza. The scale of brutality was the largest in the Independent history of Jewish nation which coincidentally has triggered a vicious cycle of anti-semitism throughout the world especially in ‘ivy league’ Universities and colleges.
In its retaliation, Israel has been carrying out ground operation in Northern Gaza in what is has called as an operation to “dismantle” the terror infrastructure of Hamas in the Palestinian enclave.
