Demonstrators trapped Jewish students in a classroom at the University of Calgary (UofC) on Oct. 31, during a talk with Israel’s former spokesperson Eylon Levy.
Students had to evacuate the building through a back door in the middle of the lecture, and Levy was harassed as he made his way to his car.
“The students were running to make sure they could get to safety before the protesters got there,” said Jesse Primerano, the executive director of StandWithUs Canada, which organized the event. “I’ve never felt that type of pressure to escape somewhere before.”
The lecture took place in a building at the edge of the Calgary campus, around 3 p.m. About 15 students—some of whom were not Jewish—attended, according to witnesses.
The specific location of the event was supposed to remain confidential, says Matej Harsany, StandWithUs Canada’s research and strategy coordinator, who helped organize the talk. “One of the members of (Students Supporting Israel) accidentally posted the full details, including the location, the day prior,” Harsany said.
As word began to spread on social media about Levy’s attendance campus security decided to move the talk to a different room which had a hidden back entrance that opened into a loading dock, said Primerano. “Otherwise, they didn’t think we would be able to leave when we were done,” he said.
About five campus security guards were active for the event, along with one private security guard hired by StandWithUs Canada.
Harsany said the location leak prompted anti-Israel protesters to organize a rally at the campus quad, right outside the building which held the event. About 200 demonstrators congregated, chanting “From the River to the Sea!” and “Eylon, you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide!”
Around 3:20 p.m., when Levy began to speak, anti-Israel protesters entered the building. “You could hear the crowds approaching the door chanting,” Harsany said. He noted that demonstrators blocked the main entrance to the classroom by 3:30 p.m.
“This is actually the first time that I’ve had an experience like this,” Levy told The Canadian Jewish News, the day after the event. “Very quickly, the large protest that had organized outside on the lawn must’ve realized where we were and descended on the door of the lecture hall, crying ‘Allahu Akbar!’ And other cries accusing me of (committing) genocide,” he recalled.
As the talk resumed, with the background chant “Shame on You!” ascending from outside the lecture hall, one student, sitting in the room, began questioning Levy about the events of Oct. 7, denying that any rapes took place during Hamas’s attacks.
“You are one of the propagandists who created that rape lie,” the student told Levy, in a video viewed by The Canadian Jewish News.
Primerano then stood up and told anyone denying the events of Oct. 7 to leave the room.
“She left, punching her fist in the air, crying ‘Free Palestine!’” said Levy. “And everyone (in the room) chimed in, ‘From Hamas!’”
Overall, Levy said he was “pleasantly surprised” by how many non-Jewish students showed up to the talk, calling them “genuinely curious and empathetic.”
“One can only try to engage so much with the people who have made their minds up and are clearly extremely hostile,” Levy said. “But I really believe there is a large majority out there who do not want to see this kind of Jihadi extremism defining what campus life is like.”
Around 4:10 p.m., campus security interrupted Levy’s talk and informed attendees that they needed to evacuate, Harsany said.
Videos posted by PalestineUofC showed protesters crowding the hallway outside the lecture room, with the words: “Waiting for the rat to escape.”
Primerano said that the security team informed them that protesters had split up to block the hidden entrance on the other side of the room.
“It felt like we were being evacuated for the sake of protecting people’s lives,” Primerano recalls.
He also noted that if the security team hadn’t decided to move the location to the room with a back entrance, they would’ve likely been trapped for much longer.
Levy had to take cover as protesters harassed him in the parking lot. Eventually, he managed to get into a car and drive away.
Reflecting on the experience, Levy called parts of the protests “shocking.”
“Cries of ‘From the River to the Sea’ and calls for the destruction of a sovereign state and a Canadian ally, that’s one thing. Once they’re crying ‘Allahu Akbar,’ that crosses the line from any sort of political protest into open Jihadi war cries,” he said.
“I hope the Canadian public understands the problem of the home-grown jihadi extremism problem that they have here. It’s a serious threat to Canada’s conception of itself.”
Levy added that Jewish students and their allies must not mirror such hostility.
“The biggest advantage that Jewish students and their allies have is that they are cool, reasonable, rational and want to be constructive and productive,” he said. “That comes across to their classmates who want to understand that Jewish students want to build a supportive environment in which people can study.
“The best thing we can do with these people is not try to reason (with) them, but expose them and mobilize the large majority of ordinary reasonable people against the forces of chaos that are trying to burn everything down.”
The university administration said that Levy was invited by a private group, which is permitted under campus policies, the student newspaper The Gauntlet reported, quoting an official school statement:
“The University of Calgary is committed to the principles of academic freedom and promoting the free exchange of ideas on campus. Campus Security works with groups who intend to hold events at the University of Calgary to ensure they follow university safety guidelines and have adequate security present.”
