Would-be Palestinian suicide bomber is APPLAUDED as she appears before woke Berkeley students

Published: 23:31, 23 April 2026 | Updated: 23:45, 23 April 2026 A would-be Palestinian suicide bomber was met with raucous applause as she appeared before University of California Berkeley law students. Israa Jaabis, who was released from an Israeli jail in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange for 26 hostages taken on October 7 of that year, made the virtual appearance as part of a 'teach-in' organized by the student-run UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine. The event, which came just one day before Israeli Independence Day, was described as a chance 'to hear experiences of Palestinian torture survivors and prisoners of conscience.' But Jaabis was accused in 2015 of trying to ignite a gas tank in Jerusalem. A police officer said at the time he spotted Jaabis driving in a commuter lane with no passengers, and when he spoke to her about the odd sight, Jaabis reportedly acted suspiciously, the Jerusalem Post reports.  The subsequent explosion then left Jaabis disfigured and the police officer burned. An ensuing investigation revealed that Jaabis shouted 'Allahu Akbar' before the explosion and that she had handwritten notes showing support for people she described as 'Palestinian martyrs,' Israeli authorities said. The officer involved in the attack even went as far as to call the incident an act of terrorism, according to the New York Post. 'You always hear of terrorist attacks and suddenly I am in one - boom - that's how it is,' he said. Israa Jaabis met virtually with students at UC Berkeley's Law School on Monday Video from the event showed scores of blurry students applauding Jaabis' remarks The student-run UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine hosted the event, which was escribed as a chance 'to hear experiences of Palestinian torture survivors and prisoners of conscience' The Palestinian Authority, however, claimed at the time that Israeli police fabricated the story as an excuse to attack the woman. Jaabis also denied the charges as her family claimed that the fire started because of a faulty engine. In a video from her speech on Monday, Jaabis told the students that their attendance at the event 'makes us hopeful that here remains some humanity.  'That there is someone to support us in the future, delivering our message to the international community and amplifying our call to liberate Palestinian prisoners, as well as to liberate all societies from servitude and from bigotry, which produces populations complicit in perpetrating inhumane laws,' she said. The video from the discussion then showed blurry footage of students erupting into applause. It was posted to Instagram by the pro-Palestine student-group UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine, which describes itself online as fighting 'for Palestinian liberation until Palestine is liberated from the River to the Sea.'  Jaabis (pictured in court in 2016) was imprisoned for 11 years after she was convicted of trying to set off a suicide bomb in Jerusalem  In a statement, a university spokesperson said that 'as a public university, UC Berkeley has a non-discretionary obligation to abide by and support the First Amendment in a completely content-neutral manner.  'We do not have the legal ability to sanction or censor Constitutionally protected expression,' spokesperson Alex AG Shapiro told the Daily Mail. 'However, as UC Berkeley has repeatedly informed the student body, if any campus community member feels threatened, they are encouraged to contact the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination.  'OPHD provides support to those harmed, investigates all allegations, and the campus takes appropriate steps following any findings.' The Daily Mail has also reached out to UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine for comment. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.