Muslim students feel abandoned by U. of Texas after Israelis disrupt Palestinian event

The first hint of trouble came via Instagram. On the evening of Oct. 12, a terse message landed in the inbox of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, a student organization at the University of Texas at Austin, shortly before the start of one of its events.

“See you there, you f-----g terrorist,” it read.

The message didn’t faze the student leaders of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, or PSC. They knew their political positions made them a lightning rod on campus, and even more so in the wake of the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel, according to government figures.

But about an hour into the event — “Palestine 101, a rundown on Palestinian history, resistance and current context” — three men showed up outside the campus lecture hall where it was taking place.

They got in the faces of the student organizers, and one of the men repeatedly called them “f-----g terrorists,” according to cellphone video of the encounter.