Hundreds of pro-Palestinian students had arranged themselves in the grass in front of Harvard Business School, pretending to be dead. An Israeli American student appeared, holding a camera phone.

It was two weeks after Hamas’s attack on Israel, and tensions were high. The student with the camera was quickly surrounded. Protesters blocked his lens with scarves, yelling, “Shame.” They formed a scrum and forced him to exit the area.

The police at the scene did not interfere. But two years later, as Harvard works to mitigate the impact of the Trump administration’s assault on higher education, lingering disagreement over what happened — and who was harmed — illustrates how the national debate over the Israel-Gaza war continues to divide Americans, on campus and off.

The protest has become a touchstone for broader debate over campus unrest, cited over and over again by Republican government officials questioning how Harvard responded to protests. Justice Department lawyers invoked it in a Boston federal courtroom in June. Lawyers for the Department of Health and Human Services also brought it up, as evidence that Harvard permitted a hostile atmosphere for Jews.

Last month, the altercation was the focus of a House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee letter threatening to cut off Harvard’s funding.

A lawsuit filed against Harvard in July by Yoav Segev, the Israeli American student, accuses the university of conducting a “sham investigation” of his assault. It is the key remaining civil case pending against the university for its handling of protests.