Kent State Professor Julio Pino shouted out “death to Israel” during an event in the American university hosting Israeli diplomat Ishmael Khaldi, who is the first Bedouin serving as a member of the Israel Foreign Ministry’s foreign service.

Professor Pino asked Khaldi how Israel continues to give aid to countries when the money is ‘blood money’ from the ‘deaths of innocent Palestinian babies and children’. The professor was addressing Israel’s recent aid to earthquake struck Turkey. Khaldi was apparently caught off guard by the ferocity of the professor’s question, stating it was not respectful.

Pino reportedly did not back down, accusing Khaldi of lacking respect and Israel of killing innocent people. Pino eventually left the event, walking out in an angry tone while shouting “Death to Israel” which was met with a response of “shame on you” from the audience.

The following report was posted on the university’s website on October 27th.

“This past Tuesday, a guest lecturer at our campus was treated in a way which I find reprehensible, and an embarrassment to our university.

“Ishmael Khaldi, a former deputy counsel general at the Israeli consulate in San Francisco, spoke on our campus about his experiences as a Bedouin in Israel, and on other matters involving the Middle East.

“During the question and answer period Kent State University professor Julio Pino posed a provocative question to Mr. Khaldi, which was his right. But then Professor Pino shouted ‘Death to Israel,’ as he left the auditorium.

“It may have been Professor Pino’s right to do so, but it is my obligation, as the president of this university, to say that I find his words deplorable, and his behavior deeply troubling.

“We value critical thinking at this university, and encourage students to engage with ideas that they find difficult or make them uncomfortable. We hope that our faculty will always model how best to combine passion for one’s position with respect for those with whom we disagree. Calling for the destruction of the state from which our guest comes (as do some of our students, faculty and community members) is a grotesque failure to model these values.”

Lester A. Lefton

President

The following statement was released by the ADL in response to the event:

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today praised the president of Kent State University for his clear statement condemning the behavior of a professor who interrupted a speech by a guest lecturer, a former Israeli government official, with the cry “Death to Israel!”

Kent State President Lester A. Lefton called the behavior of the professor, Julio Pino, “deeply troubling,” adding that his interruption of the lecture by Ishmael Khaldi, former deputy consul general at the Israeli consulate in San Francisco, was “reprehensible, and an embarrassment to our university.”

“We welcome President Lefton’s clear condemnation of Professor Julio Pino’s deplorable conduct,” said Nina Sundell, ADL Ohio Regional Director.  “Statements such as ‘Death to Israel’ extend beyond legitimate political discourse.  When the statement is shouted by a university professor at a university student organization event on campus, it is even more harmful.”

In his October 25 lecture at Kent State University, Mr. Khaldi spoke about his experiences as a Bedouin and an Israeli civilian, and other issues involving the Middle East.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)