A Jewish Yale University student journalist reporting on an anti-Israeli protest at the Ivy League school Saturday night was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag, while her assailant has gone unpunished.
Sahar Tartak, editor-in-chief of the Yale Free Press, was covering the protest — which saw hundreds of students camping on the campus in support of Palestinians — when she was suddenly surrounded by demonstrators.
Tartak said she and a friend were singled out for wearing Hasidic Jewish attire as the crowd formed a blockade around them to interfere with their filming.
“There’s hundreds of people taunting me and waving the middle finger at me, and then this person waves a Palestinian flag in my face and jabs it in my eye,” Tartak told The Post.
“When I tried to yell and go after him, the protesters got in a line and stopped me,” she added.
Tartak, who was shopping for an eyepatch when speaking with The Post, said she tried to report the assault to campus police but they told her there was nothing they could do.
Instead, she just got an ambulance ride to the hospital to get her eye checked out.
Tartak slammed the university for not cracking down on Saturday’s protest, the latest incident at Yale, where demonstrators have blocked entrances to school buildings as they condemn the war in the Gaza Strip.
Stop Antisemitism, a nonprofit watchdog group, has shared an image Tartak took of the demonstrator who jabbed her in the eye, asking the public to help identify him.
Yale Jews for Ceasefire, one of the groups who organized the protest, said they apologize for the incident and are working to keep the demonstration non-violent while welcoming Jewish voices to the discussion.
“Protest is hard. It inspires, creates power, and spurs us into action. At the same time, it is messy, divisive, and can develop beyond our control,” the group said in a statement to The Post. “We are all attempting to learn as we go, and sometimes we fall short.”
The group added that future demonstrations will involve more marshals who are specifically trained to de-escalate conflict as the protest in the university continues.
Yale officials said the university’s police department is investigating the assault and that the school tolerates no violence on its campus.
University president Peter Salovey echoed the sentiment in a statement Sunday about the protest.
“I am aware of reports of egregious behavior, such as intimidation and harassment, pushing those in crowds, removal of the plaza flag, and other harmful acts,” Salovey said.
“Yale does not tolerate actions, including remarks, that threaten, harass, or intimidate members of the university’s Jewish, Muslim, and other communities,” he added. “The Yale Police Department is investigating each report, and we will take action when appropriate, including making referrals for student discipline.”
Noah Rubin, a University of Pennsylvania student helping document the protest at Yale, bashed the university for going against its own policies by allowing the demonstrations to continue.
According to the school’s guidelines, protesters are barred from blocking access to building entrances and are considered trespassers if they refuse to leave once instructed to do so.
“The university is not acting on its own rules, and it’s only emboldening these protesters,” Rubin said.
Along with Saturday’s violence, students are holding a hunger strike on campus to push Yale to divest from weapons manufacturers affiliated with Israel, an effort that has been going on for more than six days.
The hunger strike saw drag performer Tifa Wine join students on Friday as she slammed the university for its alleged support of Israel — but failing to mention Hamas’ record as an Islamic fundamentalist organization that opposes rights for LGBTQ people.
The movement at Yale has grown in solidarity with a similar protest at fellow Ivy Leaguer Columbia University in New York City.
