Pro-Palestinian counter-protesters are under investigation for violating the University’s Pickets, Protests and Demonstrations policy after they “repeatedly interrupted” speakers at a Tuesday event featuring former Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, according to a Thursday email from Provost Alec Gallimore.
He further noted that “all individuals involved — whether protesters or counter-protesters — may face disciplinary actions in accordance with University policies and standards.”
The event was hosted by the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy and promoted by the Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East, which aims to “foster constructive and civil dialogues” about conflicts in the region.
Protesters at the event claimed that Mandelblit has “overseen the whitewashing of Israel’s illegal occupation and campaigns of genocide,” further adding that he was “not welcome on Duke’s campus.”
“After being asked to leave, [the organizers] joined a group outside the building to continue using amplified sound, further disrupting the event and the numerous classes in session nearby,” Gallimore wrote. Chants included “free, free Palestine” and “Avi, Avi you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”
“As our Pickets, Protests and Demonstrations policy states, substituting noise for speech and force for reason is a rejection and not an application of academic freedom,” Gallimore wrote.
According to the PPD policy, “it is the policy of the University to protect the right of voluntary assembly, to make its facilities available for peaceful assembly, to welcome guest speakers [and] to protect the exercise of these rights from disruption or interference.”
Mandelblit has served in various roles in the Israeli government, including chief military advocate general and cabinet secretary. He is considered one of Israel’s foremost experts on international conflict law, having served as attorney general from 2016 to 2022 under Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett and spent a portion of his career in the Israeli Defense Forces’ legal system.
Throughout his career as attorney general, Mandelblit issued mixed rulings on the topic of Israeli settlements. He approved one in the West Bank in 2018 and previously condemned a 2017 law legalizing a settlement in the West Bank “as unconstitutional and a breach of international law, since it allow[ed] expropriation of private land in areas Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war,” per Reuters.
“We will continue encouraging students, faculty and staff to join these wide-ranging and constructive conversations,” Gallimore wrote. “But disrupting the ability of others to speak, listen and learn goes against our values and academic mission and will not be tolerated.”
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Abby Spiller is a Trinity junior and editor-in-chief of The Chronicle's 120th volume.