Clashes broke out between Arabs and right-wing activists at a Nakba Day rally at Tel Aviv University on Sunday, with police arresting a number of suspects amid the violence.

A large crowd of Arab students and supporters rallied at Tel Aviv University to mark Nakba Day, when Palestinians mark the establishment of the State of Israel as a "catastrophe" and demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Demonstrators at the university waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans. A portrait of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was recently killed during clashes in Jenin was set up at the site as well.

Three people were arrested at the rally after they attacked protesters and police officers and rioted at the site, according to Israel Police.

The right-wing Im Tirtzu organization reported that the three were Arab students who had physically assaulted Jewish activists who were holding a counter-demonstration nearby. The Jewish activists waved Israeli flags, chanted pro-Israel slogans and distributed T-shirts displaying a key with a Star of David alongside the verse "And the children [of Israel] shall return to their borders."

Im Tirtzu activists also put up banners reading "Nakba Nonsense." According to the organization, a number of activists suffered head injuries after being attacked by Arab students.

Right-wing activists clash with Arab students at Nakba Day rally at Tel Aviv University, May 15, 2022 (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)
Right-wing activists clash with Arab students at Nakba Day rally at Tel Aviv University, May 15, 2022 (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)
“We cannot afford the luxury of allowing this anti-Israel propaganda to go unchallenged,” said Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg. “We are here sending a clear message that we will not be silent in the face of this deceitful attempt to rewrite history. If the Jewish community in Israel would've lost the war, the Holocaust would have been continued via Haj Amin al-Husseini and his antisemitic thugs. It is important to unapologetically call the Nakba what it is: nonsense."

Joint List MK Ayman Odeh responded to the arrests on Sunday, saying "students are marking Nakba Day and not submitting to the arrests and police brutality."