NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey, 20 September 2003 — An Israeli Cabinet minister was hit in the face with a cream pie just before he was scheduled to give a speech at Rutgers University.
Natan Sharansky was about to address a crowd of about 500 people on “a Jewish perspective of the road to peace” when student Abe Greenhouse threw the pie.
After cleaning up, Sharansky returned a few moments later and gave his speech, remarking that New Jersey possesses a warm community that “cooks very good cakes.”
Greenhouse was removed from the room by campus police and later charged with disorderly conduct, Rutgers Police Chief Barry Roberson said.
It was unclear why Greenhouse threw the pie, though a pro-Palestinian student group, New Jersey Solidarity, had vowed to protest Sharansky’s speech.
Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident who is Israel’s minister for Jerusalem and diaspora affairs, was invited to appear at Rutgers as part of a yearlong series of events sponsored by university Jewish groups.
