Joseph Sweeney and Areebah Bharmal contributed reporting to this story.
Texas Hillel’s annual Israel Block Party was met with about 50 protesters from the Palestine Solidarity Committee Tuesday. The block party was held in front of Gregory Gymnasium, while protestors congregated at the corner of Speedway and 21st Street.
Hillel claims that the party is the largest Israel event on a college campus in North America, and exists to celebrate Israeli culture. This is the 25th Block Party to be held at UT, and it drew hundreds of attendees over three hours.
“For over 25 years, Texas Hillel’s Israel Block Party has been a highlight of the school year for the Jewish community at UT Austin, as well as for alumni and local community members,” Texas Hillel said in a pre-written statement given to TSTV News at the block party.
Multiple organizers declined to comment further at the event.
The Palestine Solidarity Committee, who protested throughout the block party, said on social media that the event “promotes the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.”
Government senior Raneem, a member of the PSC whose grandparents were expelled from Palestine in 1948, said the organization protests the Block Party every year, objecting to what she said is propaganda.
Raneem gave the Block Party’s 2025 logo, a poppy flower, as an example.
“For many years, (the flower) was used as a symbol of resistance for the Palestinian people after the Palestinian flag was banned in Israel,” Raneem said. “The colors of the flower (are) green, red and black. And this year, it’s like the face of their block party. They have it on their shirts, their stickers, and essentially it’s erasure of Palestinian culture and identity.”
She also pointed to changes in where protesters were allowed to stage in the past two years. Raneem said the PSC was previously allowed to protest directly across from the party on the steps of the College of Business Administration. But now, they are told to protest at the intersection.
“I won’t say I’m shocked, but it is a little disheartening, especially after the almost year and a half, two years of genocide, to see the university allow them to continue to do this and take up so much space while we’re confined to this little corner,” Raneem said. “There’s just unfair treatment all around.”
Although protesters did march past the party, UT Event Readiness and Response Director Joe LoBrutto said that was permitted because the group kept moving, and that the distance changes were largely due to a rise in tensions. He pointed to a brief argument that broke out between a person walking on Speedway and protesters, which LoBrutto separated.
Devon Schwartz, a member of the student organization Atidna International, said he came to the party to see what it was like first-hand
Atidna says on social media that it seeks to create a safe space for open dialogue around Israeli-Palestinian relations, which Texas Hillel also promoted as a feature of the block party.
Schwartz felt the event was unnecessarily politicized by including pro-Israeli political action committee AIPAC, one of the leading lobbyists for Israeli causes in the nation.
“The event is marketed as sort of this cultural celebration, the celebration of Jewish heritage,” computer science junior Schwartz said. “But then when we have political organizations in there, it makes the event feel political, and that just sends the wrong message about the Jewish community, that we are somehow these militant nationalists.”
Schwartz said that overall, he feels most students on campus agree with each other on a substantial amount.
“The biggest tragedy of this is that we think we’re on opposite sides,” Schwartz said. “We think that we are against each other, but in reality, we’re actually on the same side. And when it comes to this current war, we actually agree on what to do.”
