Anti-Israel protesters demonstrated for five hours outside two sold-out concerts hosted for Harvard University students featuring Israeli pop star Ishay Ribo, who says he came to the embattled Ivy League institution as a show of support for its Jewish community.
“We in Israel heard — and the rest of the world heard — that Harvard’s students got entangled in a complicated situation where there are a lot of protests and support of Gaza here,” the Israeli singing sensation Ribo told The Daily Wire. “We felt connection and importance in coming here to support them and to thank America’s Jewish community. So the moment we heard it would be possible to give a performance, we jumped on the opportunity with great joy.”
Ribo was hosted by Harvard Chabad to lift the spirits of Jewish students who have encountered months of turmoil and accusations of poorly handling anti-Semitism on campus in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians.
“His music elevates us, comforts us, strengthens us, raises our consciousness — our jewish consciousness — deepens our faith and restores and strengthens our hope,” Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi said on stage.
Israeli Pop Star Ishay Ribo vs. Anti-Israel Protesters Outside His Concert
About 100 protesters across the street greeted concert attendees as they lined up with boos and chants including the genocidal “from the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” chant often used by pro-Palestinian radicals in cities across the United States, and is likewise seen as a call for ethnic cleansing of the Jewish and other non-Arab populations that live in Israel.
“To walk into a space of love, we had to pass some darkness, some words of hate,” Zarchi said. “Any time a Jew hears or witnesses hate to the Jewish people, how do you respond? You love more, you love Jews deeper, you love Israel more, and you stand up for her more. Ultimately with our love and our positivity we will overwhelm the darkness and overwhelm the hate.”
A protester with a megaphone told the group that Ribo is guilty of playing music for the Israeli Defense Forces soldiers.
“Ishay Ribo has been seen multiple times fraternizing with the IDF,” the man shouted. “He has been seen on the front lines performing, singing, dancing with the upmost support for the IDF. Support for the IDF is support for genocide.”
Ribo said he thinks the protesters are demonstrating because it is trendy.
“I don’t know if the people there that were protesting realized what they were protesting about, but inside it felt that there was truth, that there was great light,” Ribo said through a translator backstage. “The people were protesting on something they don’t really understand, they are clueless about all the things that they have heard — half truths and they turned it into some sort of amalgamation.”
The event was almost moved from its location at The Sinclair located next to Harvard University because employees refused to work with more than thirty attending the protest. Instead the venue had to rely on outside employees to staff the event.
Last night @Accordion_Cory played a Fiddler on the Roof remix in front of the anti-Israel protesters outside the Ishay Ribo concert hosted by @HarvardChabad for students.
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/wVLGLFMjoB
— Kassy Dillon (@KassyDillon) February 28, 2024
As Harvard students and local Jewish community members entered and exited the building many counter-protested singing pro-Israel songs and dancing. Both sides of the protests had their own musicians to keep their sides engaged.
On the pro-Israel side, a world accordion champion, Cory Pesaturo, played the American and Israeli national anthems, Israeli pop music, and songs from Fiddler in the Roof. He also performed the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, on stage with Ribo during both shows.