UAlbany anti-Israel protesters disrupt convocation as 'student intifada' begins

Anti-Israel protesters at the University at Albany, State University of New York, disrupted a convocation event on Friday.

University at Albany Students for Justice in Palestine posted a video of the incident to Instagram, which shows a group of students carrying a Palestinian flag and shouting in front of the convocation stage.

The protesters were asked to leave, but after the disruption, an administration official could be heard saying into the microphone: “Sometimes, that is what free speech sounds like.”

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The group wrote on Instagram that the disruption was the beginning of the “student intifada.”

”Yesterday, student activists made it clear: the student intifada at UAlbany has just begun. We refuse to be complicit in funding genocide through our university’s partnerships with “Israeli” institutions that develop weapons to kill Arabs and invest in apartheid. Havidán Rodríguez may boast about diversity, but it’s time to divest from the genocide of the Palestinian people,” the SJP chapter wrote on Instagram. “FREE PALESTINE!”

[RELATED: Columbia limits campus to public in anticipation of more anti-Israel unrest]

The student group also disrupted the President’s Welcome Picnic following the convocation, which was an event meant to welcome freshmen to the university.

A spokesperson for the University at Albany told Campus Reform the following:

”At the convocation welcoming the Class of 2028, three students chanted and marched with a Palestinian flag to the front of the stage during the President’s welcome remarks. The event paused briefly while the students were directed to leave. The program then proceeded as planned, concluding with a class photo on Collins Circle. 

During his remarks, President Havidán Rodríguez welcomed the new class to the UAlbany community, which is made up of diverse cultures, beliefs, and interests. He noted the value of dialogue and free expression and emphasized the responsibility of the campus community to treat each other with mutual respect, dignity, and empathy.”