Jewish Princeton Student Vindicated After A Year Of Horror

(VINnews/Elchonen Poupko) If a mob of antisemites took over a building at one of America’s most prestigious universities, who do you think campus police would press charges against? Sadly, given the current reality on campus, it is no surprise that the police decided to press charges against an innocent Jewish student.

On April 29, 2024, a mob of pro-Palestinian students took over Clio Hall at Princeton University. Exercising his full rights as a Princeton student, Piegaro, a Jewish student and former president of the university’s Student Veterans Association, attempted to enter nearby Whig Hall. However, Assistant Vice President for Public Safety Kenneth Strother tried to block him.

Later, Strother accused Piegaro of grabbing his arm and attempted to pressure him into accepting a plea bargain after charging him with aggravated assault on a police officer, trespassing, obstruction, and resisting arrest. Fortunately, this week, Piegaro walked out of court an innocent man. However, this does not undo the year of hassle, legal fees, and negative publicity a Jewish student had to endure simply for exercising his right to walk on the campus of the university he attends.

In an exclusive statement to VINnews, Piegaro said:

“April 29th was a very difficult day for many Jewish students at Princeton. The language on the signs displayed during the large demonstration that aided and accompanied the occupation of a university building included “No Peace without Decolonization” and “Habash Bivouac” [referring to George Habash, the Marxist-Leninist terrorist who founded the PFLP–Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine]. Those messages explicitly endorse violence against Jewish people.

The students who took over a building ended up walking away without handcuffs and (thank God) in good health. I, a pro-Israel Jewish student, who attempted to lawfully record a negotiation between faculty protest leaders and an administrator, ended up being taken away in handcuffs and with injuries that soon landed me in the emergency room. I was later evicted from my on-campus apartment and barred from attending end-of-year events like reunion and commencement.

The conditions and decisions that led to those facts show that something went deeply wrong at Princeton.”

Now, the 13 anti-Israel protesters who occupied the hall are set to appear in court, facing only charges of “defiant trespassing.” Meanwhile, Judge John McCarthy III—rather than criticizing the way in which crazed mobs of antisemites have been allowed to overtake America’s most prestigious universities—remarked that Piegaro had shown “poor judgment.”

It remains to be seen whether Piegaro will pursue a civil suit and seek compensation for the past year, a year which he was forced to spend in courtrooms, paying legal fees, and defending his good name and right to walk on campus freely as a proud Jew.

See belowe: Princeton Student Khari Franklin ’24 Speaks About the April 29 Arrests at Clio Hall