A Jewish student at King’s College in London was forced to lock himself in a room on campus to protect himself from an anti-Israel mob that was attempting to force its way through the door to get at him, the Jewish Chronicle reported.
The incident occurred last Thursday when the student who was attacked organized a conflict resolution event titled “From Conflict to Connection: Israelis and Iranians in Dialogue.”
During the event, when Iranian researcher Faezeh Alavi was speaking, an anti-Israel activist stood up and interrupted her, demanding that she explain how she could sit next to an Israeli person given the war in Gaza, which the protester called a "genocide."
The mob of anti-Israel protesters that had gathered then began to chant "Free Palestine."
Alavi, who left Iran at the age of 25 partly due to the regime's oppressive policies, had to be ushered out of the room by security. The event organizer summoned security and advised her to leave for her safety. His own safety remained at risk, however.
He fled into a nearby chaplaincy room and locked the door. About five of the protesters followed and began banging on the door, attempting to get in.
“I can hear their ID cards on the beeper getting declined… and I can hear conversation outside among them, something along the lines of, ‘Why is my card not working? Why can we not get in?’ They started getting physical with the door and trying to push it open,” he told the JC.
“I felt extremely unsafe. I was just distressed. I went into the room to get away from it all, but when I saw them trying to get in, I went into another room inside that room, to hide. That's when I knew that something was going to happen and there was malicious intent," he added.
He compared how he sent text messages to friends and acquaintances to come help to the messages sent from the areas of southern Israel where Hamas terrorists attacked during the October 7 massacre.
“Where are you all, come to the chaplaincy room, come now, come now, come now, they are outside!” read his messages. Afterward, he stated, “It's like October 7th, the similar messages. ‘They're here, in the kibbutz, they are screaming, they are shooting, they are outside.’”
“There was one reason as to why they wanted to follow me in there, and that was to beat the sh*t out of me,” he stated.
Later, the protesters prevented an attempt to resume the event.
Alavi wrote on X following the incident, “Tonight at King's College, I felt as if I were under Islamic regime occupation again. At an event where I, as a Muslim Iranian, voiced Iranians' will for regime change, a pro-Palestinian mob shut it down when I mentioned Iran Lion & Sun flag.”
The JC reported that members of the campus Students For Justice For Palestine contingent registered for the event with the purpose of disrupting it.
A university spokesperson said that the incident was under investigation. It is unclear if any members of the violent mob have been arrested or even disciplined.
This is not the first time an event linked to Israel was violently disrupted at King's College. In 2016, a violent mob crashed a talk by the former head of the Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shabak) Ami Ayalon. Anti-Israel activists threw chairs and smashed a window during the incident, as they attempted to violently disrupt Ayalon's talk.
A Jewish student, Esther Endfield, was assaulted during the riot in 2016.
Last Thursday's incident was similar to another incident in which an anti-Israel mob attempted to break through doors to get at Jewish college students in New York.
In October 2023, a few weeks after the October 7 massacre, Jewish students at Cooper Union College in New York City were forced to lock themselves inside the school library as a mob of anti-Israeli protesters blocked the doors.
Footage posted on social media showed the students in the library as a large crowd of anti-Israeli protesters banged on the doors.
About 40 minutes later, security escorted the students out of the building via a tunnel.