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‘He said multiple times to “get out of our country,” which was explicitly racist’
A Jewish student at Texas A&M University said his campus community showed support for his pro-Israel group after another student allegedly told him to “get out of our country” during a recent tabling event.
Avram Plager, a member of Aggie Students Supporting Israel, told The College Fix that students approached him weeks after the incident to offer their sympathies.
“My friend and I tabled a couple weeks after the incident and multiple people came up to offer their sympathies so, if anything, this reflects the strength and character of the Aggie community,” Plager told The Fix via email.
At the end of March, Plager said he and a friend were tabling on campus when another student approached them, recording on his phone. The news outlet Texas Scorecard identified him as engineering student Yousef Mahdy, a Muslim.
“My friend and I were tabling and Yousef came up videotaping on his phone and made just some schoolyard comments like ‘stinky zionists’ and such, nothing meaningful,” Plager told The College Fix recently.
“Then he said multiple times to ‘get out of our country,’ which was explicitly racist,” Plager said.
Plager said he and his friend initially ignored the comments and continued speaking with other students. Mahdy eventually left, but later returned and continued the behavior.
“He came back shortly and did the same thing so my friend told him off, stating that his behavior was harassment and to leave us alone,” Plager said. “He did leave eventually after that.”
“The purpose of the table that day was our usual goal which is to have discussions with students about Israel and inform people about the history of Israel and the current conflicts regarding Israel,” he told The Fix.
A video of the student’s antisemitic rant later attracted wide-spread attention on X.
Plager said he contacted the university after the incident and received a prompt response.
“My friend, rabbi, and I all had a meeting shortly after with a couple people from the office of the dean of student affairs and they listened to our experience and informed us that they were already taking action and monitoring social media and on campus activity,” Plager told The Fix.
The student said Texas A&M has responded appropriately to this incident and others in the past. “There have been other antisemitic incidents I have handled with the university and they have always handled these types of situations appropriately,” Plager said. “The response has always been prompt and whoever we met with has always been attentive.”
Plager said the broader atmosphere for Jewish students at Texas A&M remains positive, especially compared to other universities.
“There have only ever been rare incidents and we have never had a Jewish student physically attacked on campus,” Plager said.
He also said he has not felt unsafe on campus, despite rising national concerns about antisemitism after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
“Even with national and global antisemitism at an all time high after the October 7th attack on Israel, I have not felt generally unsafe at Texas A&M and I have always trusted that should something happen plenty of people would come to my aid,” he said.
He said he believes the incident was isolated and does not reflect a larger problem at the university.
“… Texas A&M has never really had a problem with campus antisemitism except for rare isolated incidents which have always been handled promptly and efficiently,” he said.
“Whenever we have on-campus events, security is always provided and the campus security is vigilant and effective,” Plager told The Fix.
Plager said Texas A&M should be recognized for its treatment of Jewish students.“I am proud of Texas A&M’s treatment of its small but vibrant Jewish community and it should be recognized how high that bar is in comparison to almost any other university,” he said.
The College Fix reached out to Texas A&M University multiple times this week for comment on the tabling incident, but did not receive a response.
MORE: Texas A&M student goes on vulgar antisemitic rant at pro-Israel group’s info table
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