East Jerusalem: Angry Palestinian students yesterday protested against India’s growing friendship with Israel at a university campus in East Jerusalem even as President Pranab Mukherjee was being conferred an honorary degree.

Hundreds of students shouted slogans and carried placards critical of India’s ties with the Jewish state while Mukherjee was being honoured by Al-Quds University at Abu Dis and hailed as a “Knight of Peace”. Placards with slogans like, “India why do you cooperate with the occupiers (Israel)”, “Indian President raise your voice against Israel’s aggression”, and “Indian President don’t keep quiet against the butchers slaying Palestinians” were carried by the students as Mukherjee was leaving the campus in East Jerusalem.