Arab Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi. Photo: Screenshot/Israel National News.

A heated panel discussion at Israel’s Bar Ilan university Sunday ended in chaos, according to Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot. During panelist Arab Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi’s remarks, an Arab student attempted to attack other students, and was escorted out of the lecture hall. Later on, a sixteen year old Jewish girl spat at Tibi as he was leaving.

Aryeh Eldad, leader of the newly formed ‘Strength to Israel’ party, who appeared on the panel alongside Tibi at the event, said that “during the discussion, tempers flared, as most students probably could not stand Tibi’s speech, which claimed (Arab) ownership to the land of Israel, and denied the right of the people to a Jewish democratic state. We regret the violence on both sides and condemn any attempt to harm Tibi.”

Tibi is a controversial figure in Israel. For years, he served as a political adviser to arch terrorist Yasser Arafat. In January, the PA broadcast a speech delivered by Tibi where he declared “the shaheed (martyr) is the symbol of the homeland […] those who the occupation would want to be referred to as terrorists, but we say there is nothing more exalted than those who have died for the homeland. ” He was reprimanded by the Knesset Ethics Committee for this statement.

Tibi says he will not be deterred by the incident, which ended when security guards took him outside the lecture hall. “I will continue to go everywhere, even if I have to face Kahane supporters and right-wing racists,” he said.

A video of Tibi’s heated remarks can be viewed below.