Under heavy police presence, Hadash and Arab students hold, Wednesday, May 14, the annual Nakba memorial ceremony at Tel Aviv University’s Entin Square, as right-wing counter-protesters attempt to disrupt the rally with loud music and taunts from behind a police barricade. Hadash members of Knesset Aida Touma-Sliman, Ofer Cassif and Youssef Atawneh and Communist Party of Israel Secretary General Adel Amer were present at the event.
Activists, many clad in Palestinian keffiyehs, also carry signs bearing the names of razed Palestinian villages. In lieu of Palestinian flags, which police often confiscate, protesters carry cardboard cut-outs of watermelons, which are identified with the Palestinian cause due to the fruit’s red, black, green and white colors. Referring to the ban on Palestinian flags, some signs read, in Hebrew and Arabic, “They’ve forbidden the flag” and “They’re even afraid of watermelons.” Other signs demand: “No to the genocide in Gaza,” and “Stop the genocide in Gaza,” in English.
Hadash members of Knesset Aida Touma-Sliman, Ofer Cassif and Youssef Atawneh and Communist Party of Israel Secretary General Adel Amer attending the annual Nakba memorial ceremony at Tel Aviv University’s Entin Square, May 14, 2025 (Photo: Al Ittihad)
Far-right counter-protesters also arrived, including demonstrators from the “Im Tirtzu” fascist organization, activist Yosef Haddad and Deputy Minister Almog Cohen – who sang ‘Hatikvah’ while holding an Israeli flag. Clashes erupted when a female protester from “Im Tirtzu” broke into the assembly area.
A spokesperson for Tel Aviv University — which itself stands on the ruins of the Palestinian village of Sheikh Munis — says “TAU is the largest and most diverse university in Israel, liberal and pluralistic — and it takes pride in that.” The spokesperson notes that the Nakba commemoration is an annual event that takes place at the university gates.
On Tuesday, Far-right Education Minister Yoav Kisch threatened on to revoke funding for Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University over Hadash and Arab student rallies commemorating the Nakba. Both universities said in statements that they supported their students’ right to mark the Nakba, and called Kisch’s threats illegal. The universities rejected Kisch’s threat, saying they supported their students’ freedom of speech, “this directive is without any legal foundation or statutory support.”
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32661
