Arabs from the neighborhood of Issawiya, on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, have stepped up their daily attacks on students studying at the adjacent Hebrew University campus and on Jews in general, a student tells Arutz Sheva.
Arutz Sheva has been reporting for years that the Arabs of Issawiya routinely harass female students at the university as they make their way from the dormitories to the campus, and that the authorities and university have been ineffective in their attempts to stop the phenomenon. Other news channels are loath to report the phenomenon out of obedience to “political correctness.”
Tom Nisani, a political science student, used the term "war zone" to describe the campus and told Arutz Sheva that the situation has become an “impossible” one: “Since the academic year began,” he said, “we have been witnessing repeated attacks near the dormitories. It can be harassment of the girls or worse – the throwing of firebombs into the university grounds. Only last week, a woman was injured here as she drove on the university's perimeter road. Her car is simply full of holes.”
The throwers of rocks and firebombs come from Issawiya, Nisani confirmed. “Just two weeks ago, they arrested a terror cell there, which had attacked campus buildings and cars. I regret to say that even the Hadassah Hospital, which serves Arabs, is being targeted with rocks. We are holding evening patrols because of the phenomenon of harassment, but for now, my recommendation is that people avoid bringing their cars to the campus, because they will either be broken into, or attacked with rocks.”
The Arabs of Issawiya have become fearless, said Nisani. “Every once in a while, a few youths come out with boulders and rocks, or they break into cars in broad daylight. They molest girls, stopping their cars next to them and honking their horns. The girls do not feel safe to walk here in the evening. The university invests in security – there are cameras and the police are involved. But we think there needs to be tougher enforcement, and an uncompromising war.
“At the same time, we are conducting patrols with walkie-talkies in the evenings, and we even have some Arab volunteers, who understand that things cannot go on like this.”
In 2009, following attempts by grassroots Zionist student organization Im Tirtzu to tackle the problem, Hebrew University told media that the university management “is aware of the severity of the problem and has met with the student representatives to think of solutions for preventing harassment and helping the female students. At the same time, the university’s security department decided to initiate evening patrols to the deter the harassers and increase the feeling of security.”
The Jerusalem Police said at the time that the police receive “full and good cooperation from the university management and the community administration in the neighborhood… and this activity has brought about meaningful results.”
Obviously, not much has changed since then – certainly not for the better.