Protesters wore shirts with the word “Apartheid” on them written in Hebrew.
(Photo: Tess Scheflan/ Activestills.org)
From a Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine press release:
Newton, MA – On Monday, March 26th 2012, members of Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine (BSJP), together with Waltham and Boston area Palestine solidarity activists, disrupted a Town Hall Meeting with 5 members of the Israeli Knesset (MKs) at Temple Emanuel in Newton, Massachusetts. The event, whose sponsors included Brandeis University, the Ruderman Foundation, and a number of Boston-area Zionist organizations, was aimed at strengthening relations between Israeli political leaders and the American Jewish community. The activists mic-checked the panel, protesting the undemocratic nature of the Israeli apartheid state and notified the offending officials that until their government ceased its discriminatory policies they were not welcome by students at Brandeis University community events. The activists were pushed outside the hall by police officers and private security guards. One Brandeis student was arrested and another was injured while being thrown to the floor by a police officer.
The panel included Knesset members Ofir Akunis (Likud), Lia Shemtov (Yisrael Beitenu) and Faina Kirshenbaum (Yisrael Beitenu). Faina Kirshenbaum, who lives in the settlement of Nili in the West Bank, and Ofir Akunis are responsible for controversial legislation aimed at limiting international funding of human rights organizations operating in Israel. The two also initiated a committee to investigate the funding of human rights and left-wing NGOs in Israel. Akunis was recently quoted saying “Senator McCarthy was right in every word”. On November 2010, MK Lia Shemtov sponsored a bill suggesting all workers of the public sector should take a loyalty oath to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
The activists wore blue T-shirts with the word “apartheid” written in Hebrew across the chest. They stood up before MK Ofir Akunis began speaking at the event and shouted:
Israel is an apartheid state and the Knesset is an apartheid parliament!
We will not welcome Israeli officials to any Brandeis University event until apartheid ends!
Mr. Akunis and Ms. Kirshenbaum are responsible for sponsoring fascist legislation in the Knesset, targeting legitimate human rights organizations.
Mr. Akunis and Ms. Kirshenbaum, how does it feel to be silenced? The Knesset is silencing dissent and civil and human rights!
FREE PALESTINE! FREE HANA SHALABI!
Last year, Brandeis University hosted a similar event featuring Israeli Parliament members. Brandeis SJP interrupted the event, targeting MK Avi Dichter, an international war criminal wanted for crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Convention. This year, the event was scheduled at an off campus location.
Seth Grande, a Brandeis student and Palestine solidarity activist, stated “There exists a clear regime of racialized discrimination and marginalization directed against Palestinian communities inside Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. This regime is sustained by policies adopted in the Israeli Knesset. The fact that there are Arab Members of Knesset does not change the fact that Israel is an apartheid state. Israel needs to end its project of colonial occupation in Palestine and stop discriminating against its Palestinian citizens. As long as Israel maintains its discriminatory policies, I, as a Jewish American, will not stay silent.”
Ynet called this a riot and said students stormed the podium.
article
This is a riot?
video
First time posting so I don’t know if I did the links right.
I was particularly drawn to the young man wearing the white kippa in the second row (forefront).
I get the feeling that young people are really listening to their counterparts.
I also thought it was interesting that, from the camera view and sound in this video, the students were not drowned out by everyone shouting nor obscured by everyone immediately standing up.
The majority of the audience, including the many blue hairs, if they had their hearing aids turned up, appeared to be listening.
I think that’s progress.
Conveniently, you’ve omitted Raleb Majadle ( Labor party) and Idan Gilon (Meretz) from the list of Israeli MK’s.
Here is the original article:
“The panel included Knesset members Ofir Akunis (Likud), Lia Shemtov (Yisrael Beitenu) and Faina Kirshenbaum (Yisrael Beitenu), as well as Raleb Majadle (The Labor Party) and Ilan Gilon (Meretz)”
http://brandeis4palestine.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/brandeis-students-for-justice-in-palestine-disrupted-a-town-hall-meeting-with-5-knesset-members-one-arrested-and-one-assaulted/
My question is-who do you think your readers are, Adam?
RE: “FREE HANA SHALABI!” ~ shouted by the activists
PETITION: Free Hana Shalabi and End Administrative Detentions
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
TO SIGN THE PETIION – http://www.change.org/petitions/the-president-of-the-united-states-free-hana-shalabi-and-end-administrative-detentionsns
Bravo and persevere, heroic brandeis students, for your actions are helping to destroy the myth that israel speaks for all jews. And as more and more of us Jews stand up for justice in Palestine, what’s going to happen is that our presence in said movement is going to help liberate the 98% of America that is not Jewish (but holds back from openly supporting Palestinians for fear of being labeled antisemitic by the likes of Mayor Bloomberg) to stand up and say “We’re for justice in Palestine and how can our saying this be antisemitic since so many Jews are saying the same thing?” And once this happens, watch-out, apartheid entity Israel, cause your days* are numbered.
*the entity’s, not its people