AJC Condemns Campus Disruption of Mayor Barkat’s Speech

AJC condemned the actions of protesters affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine who disrupted a speech that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat was giving at San Francisco State University. After more than a dozen people dressed in kafiyehs and waving Palestinian flags shouted Barkat down and security personnel entered to protect him, the mayor mingled with the audience and answered questions.

“These protesters violated Mayor Barkat’s freedom of speech and deprived students of their First Amendment right to hear Israel’s point of view from the mayor of one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the world,” said Sarah Persitz, director of AJC’s San Francisco Region. “The right of freedom of speech does not include a right to disrupt others at a public meeting. California law indeed penalizes those who do so. We call on the leadership of San Francisco State, and failing that, local prosecutors, to take appropriate measures to punish the disrupters.”