Unrest on American campuses: Jewish student at Yale stabbed in eye with Palestinian flag

(JNS) — A Jewish student at Yale University was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag during an anti-Israel demonstration on Saturday night at the school’s campus in New Haven, Conn.

“Tonight at Yale, I was assaulted by a student today at an anti-Israel protest. He stabbed me in the eye with a Palestinian flag. Now I’m in the hospital. This is what happens when visibly Jewish students try to attend and document these rallies,” Sahar Tartak, a sophomore, tweeted after the incident.

Tartak, who is studying history and is the editor-in-chief of the independent Yale Free Press college newspaper, was attempting to film the pro-Palestinian encampment set when she and a friend were confronted by five activists who formed a wall and would not let them pass.

“One of them takes their Palestinian flag and waves it in my face, and then jabs it in the face,” Tartak told The Jerusalem Post.

Tartak reported the incident to the campus police, who called an ambulance. She went to the hospital and was discharged without suffering permanent damage.

She said that protesters pushed her and her friend repeatedly. Earlier documentation that Tartak posted to X showed the demonstrators commemorating the recently deceased Walid Daqqa, a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist who was convicted of murdering an Israeli soldier in 1984.

Tartak also posted video she took of protesters at Yale yelling, “Viva via Palestina” as they pull down an American flag, cheering when it hits the ground. She noted that the university police and administration did nothing in response.

According to Tartak, she asked the police to disband the encampment but they said they needed “authorization.” She also noted that they were outnumbered by the pro-Palestinian mob of thousands of activists to only seven police officers.

No arrests were made during the protests, according to two groups involved—Yalies for Palestine and American Muslims for Palestine Connecticut. They said the protest started on Friday night in response to attempts to break up a similar encampment on the Columbia University campus.

“These students are violating every policy in the books, they should have been disbanded immediately,” Tartak told the Post. “These students have taken over campus, and it’s an intimidation tactic.”

In her tweet and Post interview, Tartak did not identify the assailant who stabbed her with the flag or say if she would press charges.