Zionists at AUB

An American who spoke at AUB recently sent me this (I cite with his permission but I removed specific references):  "Last week, I gave a lecture at AUB. I talked the usual shit about the idiocy of various Zionist discourses. During the Q & A, two audience members registered their protest. Zionists. One of them had a distinct Israeli accent. Needless to say, I was shocked. One of the Zionists had been taking profuse notes throughout the talk. They were shouted down by saner members of the audience, one of whom told them that Israel was merely a small blip on the history of the Arab World that will not exist for much longer. I had nothing to add, as I agreed completely.
After the event, one of the Zionists wanted to take a photo of me for some "magazine." My wife intervened and told him to go away.
I understand that there are Zionists at a neocolonial institution like AUB, but to find an Israeli there was disconcerting. Is this sort of thing normal? I'm used to them turning up everywhere in the US, but wasn't expecting them in an Arab country. Nor was I expecting them to be so vocal and brazen....
Thanks for your time"