The University is investigating the disruption of a speaker event on Monday with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 wrote to The Daily Princetonian on Tuesday. Eisgruber also said that he had personally apologized to Bennett and said he was “appalled at reports of antisemitic language” outside the event.
Eisgruber’s statement followed a letter written by Danielle Shapiro ’25 and Maximillian Meyer ’27, the respective presidents of pro-Israel student groups B’Artzeinu Princeton and Princeton Tigers for Israel. The letter accused protesters of antisemitism, asking Eisgruber to implement a campus-wide mask ban and dissolve Princeton’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The letter also called on Eisgruber to issue a public apology to Bennett and initiate disciplinary action against the protesters.
The event with Bennett was initially disrupted by 20 demonstrators shouting “Naftali Bennett, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” before walking out of the lecture hall the event was being held in. Another protester disrupted the event several minutes later, yelling at Bennett and refusing to leave for several minutes before being walked out by Public Safety officers and free speech coordinators. The event was further derailed when the fire alarm went off, an action that some have attributed to protesters. Attendees then began singing, including the Israeli national anthem.
Outside, over 200 protesters chanted in McCosh courtyard throughout the duration of the event. As people from the talk spilled into the courtyard, interactions between protesters and event attendees became tense, with people on both sides of the fence shouting at each other.
Despite the presence of protesters at the event, Rabbi Gil Steinlauf ’91, the executive director of the Center for Jewish Life (CJL), highlighted the perceived success of the event in a written statement to the CJL community on Tuesday.
“Those who tried to silence us could not succeed,” he wrote. “Their efforts to disrupt the event instead brought forth something even stronger: a joyful, defiant affirmation of Jewish life and identity.”
The event was a rare example of a speaker being shouted down at Princeton. It comes a week after the Trump administration suspended several dozen grants to the University, citing a pending investigation into antisemitism on campus from last April.
The letter from Meyer and Shapiro describes a number of alleged remarks at the protests as antisemitic, including “go back to Europe,” “you’re all fucking inbred,” and “inbred swine.” The letter also claimed that a protester used an upside-down triangle symbol, which has been used by Hamas’s military wing to identify Israeli targets.
SJP did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In a statement sent to student listservs on Monday afternoon, it decried the University’s decision to host Bennett and wrote that “many were seen dancing and laughing to the protestors’ chants.”
A post on Meyer’s X account appears to show a single protester repeatedly yelling “go back to Europe” to Jewish students on the other side of the fence. Another post captured a protester making an upside-down triangle with their hands. The Daily Princetonian was unable to verify the validity of the other two claims in the letter.
“Such behavior is reprehensible and intolerable. The University is investigating and will pursue disciplinary measures as appropriate, to the extent any members of the Princeton University community are implicated,” Eisgruber wrote in his statement.
He added that the University was already “taking action” against one protester who was not a University affiliate.
Eisgruber also issued an apology to Bennett.
“Prime Minister Bennett, like all speakers on our campus, had every right to be heard without disruption and to be treated with dignity. I have expressed my regrets personally to Mr. Bennett and thanked him for visiting our campus,” he wrote.
“While we appreciate President Eisgruber’s apology to PM Bennett, condemnation of antisemitism, and commitment to open an investigation, his statement is ultimately a band-aid over years of failed University policies and unwillingness to enforce existing rules. If free speech truly remains Princeton’s cornerstone, punishments for students who violated it last night must clearly reflect the gravity of that breach,” Shapiro wrote to the ‘Prince.’ Similar thoughts were shared by Shapiro in a piece published late Tuesday night in The Free Press.
Calls to ban masks, included in the letter from Meyer and Shapiro, have been a particular flash point between the Trump administration and universities. Columbia University recently banned face coverings for the purpose of obscuring identities as part of its efforts to comply with demands from the government following significant cuts to its federal funding. Additionally, the Trump administration demanded last week that Harvard also ban masks as a condition to avoid losing federal funding.
Vitus Larrieu is a senior News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Pensacola, Fla. and typically covers community activism, the state of higher education, and construction and architecture.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com
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