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Students demand IDF veteran leaves campus
A pro-Palestinian student at Towson University destroyed an Israel Defense Forces veteran’s sign and demanded that he leave while he was answering students’ questions on campus.
The former IDF soldier, Adi Karni, shared a video of the incident on Instagram. The student can be heard yelling, “You’re a terrorist, bro! Get off my campus!” as he ripped up Karni’s sign.
A police officer then escorted the student away from the event.
Another student harassed the soldier, telling him, “I’m not paying $30,000 a year … to have a terrorist here.”
Karni posted another video on Instagram showing a Towson staff member telling him to move his table to a designated “public use space” at the public university in Maryland.
Karni has faced similar hostile encounters at several other universities while sharing his experiences as an IDF combat commander.
He recently visited Florida State University and was interrupted by students yelling “Free Palestine” and “Allahu Akbar” while answering questions, according to a video he posted to Instagram.
In April, Karni held a sign at the University of Miami that read, “I’m an IDF soldier and have been in Gaza, ask me anything,” according to The Miami Hurricane.
University of Miami police asked Karni and the accompanying students to leave the event, citing safety concerns. A university spokesperson said the student group that hosted the event was forced to end it early because it was held in a “non-reservable space.”
“There’s a lot of fake news about my country, Israel, and about the IDF,” Karni told The Miami Hurricane. “For me, it’s really important to explain to people what is really going on from a person who has been in these places.”
Similar confrontations involving former IDF soldiers have occurred at other universities in recent months.
Stanford University is currently investigating an April incident involving a physical altercation between another former Israeli soldier and a student on campus, according to ABC News.
During an “Ask Us Anything” tabling event, the IDF veteran and Miss Israel 2025 were engaging with students when a group of pro-Palestinian students began calling them “terrorists” and accusing them of genocide denial.
According to witnesses, a student then grabbed a sign from their table and tried to leave. The former IDF soldier chased the student, tackled him to the ground, and reportedly placed him in a chokehold, according to ABC News.
However, during a May 8 Faculty Senate meeting, Provost Jenny Martinez said, “There are disputed accounts of the physical altercation between the two people involved in it,” according to The Stanford Daily.
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