Israeli Ambassador to Spain Rodica Radian-Gordon was rushed out of a lecture hall by armed guards this week as violent anti-Israel demonstrators broke in and tried to storm the room where she was escorted.
??Antidisturbios, un arma y dos detenidas: el día en que la Complutense invitó a la embajadora de Israel.
Por @lababikerhttps://t.co/B2403ZQoju pic.twitter.com/A1jFf0Ju3l
— El Salto (@ElSaltoDiario) February 10, 2023
The ambassador had been scheduled to speak at Complutense University of Madrid to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
But a mob of activists from the international Boycott, Divest & Sanctions economic war on Israel rushed the lecture hall during her remarks, temporarily disrupting her address.
The ambassador was swiftly taken to another room by local and Israeli security guards, with demonstrators attempting to follow and storm her location.
They were held off by an armed guard who drew a pistol and pointed the weapon at the oncoming mob, as seen in the above video tweeted by the El Salto news outlet.
Other members of the security detail then blocked the demonstrators, who chanted anti-Israel slogans and waved Palestinian Authority flags.
“We are appalled by the violence of the anti-Israel demonstrators, which was directed against the Israeli ambassador, at the conference at Complutense University to mark 30 years of the Oslo peace process,” the embassy in Madrid said in response to the incident.
“We thank the dean for her determined and courageous leadership of an open and balanced academic discourse,” the embassy said in its statement, sent to reporters by Israel’s foreign ministry.
“After the protesters broke into the lecture and tried to prevent the event, the ambassador, Rodika Radian Gordon, returned to the hall and ended the lecture as planned.
“That evening, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen called the ambassador in Madrid to strengthen her stance against the extreme anti-Israel demonstrators and noted positively the fact that she returned and continued the lecture, and the event continued despite the appalling attempt to prevent it with violence.”
