An event at the University of Oregon in the city of Eugene, featuring Noa Cochva, “Miss Israel” 2021, who served as a combat medic in the Israel Defense Forces, was disrupted by anti-Israel groups who blocked access to the reserved space and issued death threats toward Jewish students, according to the Oregon Hillel.
The event, sponsored by the Oregon Hillel in partnership with StandWithUs and Ducks4Israel, was scheduled for April 22 on the Chapman Lawn. “The program was designed as an opportunity for all students to engage in one-on-one conversations rooted in listening and learning from one another,” the Hillel stated.
Cochva had to cancel due to safety concerns. The event came days after a demonstration that escalated to violence outside a StandWithUs event in Seattle, where Cochva was the featured speaker, prompting her to cancel her appearance at the University of Washington.
“A large group of anti-Israel protesters gathered at the site, blocked our reserved space and disrupted the event with chants calling for the eradication of Israel,” organizers stated. “They also directed hostile and intimidating rhetoric toward our speaker, issued death threats toward Jewish students in attendance and singled out specific Oregon Hillel staff members.”
Campus police were engaged to monitor the protest. They escorted Jewish organizers of the Hillel event safely off campus. (JNS sought comment from the university about this incident and Cochva’s scheduled appearance.)
Organizers noted that two weeks ago, a lockdown occurred at the Oregon Hillel as a result of a “credible threat of violence against the campus Jewish and black communities.”
Anti-Israel groups, including the University of Oregon chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, the Eugene Revolutionary Women’s Committee and the Eugene Revolutionary Study Group, organized the Oregon protest against Cochva. “Let us act in solidarity with the resistance in Palestine and the people of Seattle who last night faced brutal repression and three arrests for justly protesting this murderer,” the groups wrote, declaring “victory, victory” after she called off the appearance.
The groups stated that Cochva was “not welcome to ‘foster dialogue’” and that they will continue to protest similar events “until Palestine is free from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
Hillel called on the university to condemn the protests as “blatant acts of antisemitism and intimidation.”
