Much too often do we see or hear of anti-Israel protests on college campuses. Last Wednesday, April 6, Jerusalem's mayor, Nir Barkat, was invited by San Fransisco University's Hillel to speak at the school. Only ten minutes into his speech was he interrupted by a group of pro-Palestinian students chanting things like, "From the river to the see, Palestine will be free" and "Hey Netanyahu, what do you say? How many kids have you killed today?" After about 20 minutes of listening to these hateful chants, Nir Barkat tried his best to continue his speech in the corner of the room opposite the protestors using the microphone provided. However, the protestors had their own portable sound system and began chanting so loud that Barkat's speech became practically inaudible. Finally, he finished by stating that "Anyone who thinks that calls to violence and wild incitement will succeed in silencing us or deflecting us from our positions is seriously mistaken." Barkat left at 3 p.m. that afternoon, as scheduled. However, the protest leader proclaimed "We kicked Nir Barkat off our campus" which made them look even more ignorant.
It's sickening to see such disturbing protests take place at an event as small as a speech given by an Israeli mayor to only around 80 students. Several questions remained in my mind while reading this article such as, "what's the point in even protesting?" and "why do you think being annoying and rude is going to accomplish anything?" It just doesn't make sense to me. I realize that a lot of people on college campuses are anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian, and I get that they have the right to peacefully protest and the right to freely speak. However, I don't get why it's necessary to interrupt another pro-Israel group's opportunity to learn about the Jewish state and their people from someone as high-up as the mayor of Jerusalem. It's disrespectful, and in my opinion, they are veering farther and farther from reaching their goal by executing these irritating disturbances.
You can also see a couple of videos of the protest, along with the article, through this link:
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/77319/sfsu-president-promises-full-investigation-after-protesters-disrupt-jerusal
I completely agree that they should not be yelling in the middle of his speeches. If they really want free speech, they should take their diapers off and start acting like grown human beings. Maybe after that they can have an actual educated conversation with someone who is willing to let the other side have a say in this. If these idiots want to go around protesting, that's fine, but if it obstructs on someone else's free speech, that is not okay.
ReplyDelete