UC-Irvine aerial view. If you look closely, you can see the MSU/SAS students marching around Ring Road under surveillance of Israeli F-16s supplied by the American Empire.
Today, the Muslim Student Union (MSU) and Society of Arab Students (SAS)at UC-Irvine held an hour long rally on campus to demonstrate against the Israeli military action in Gaza. I am happy to report that there were no unfortunate incidents, nor was there any hate speech. At least I didn't hear any.
I am also happy to report that the local Jewish community turned out to show their support of Israel. There were plenty of Israeli flags handed out (yes, I carried one.) Pro-Israel posters were everywhere including one held by a lady that said, "Proud Mom of an IDF soldier". It was clear that on this occasion, the pro-Hamas people were outnumbered. Yet, we didn't not attempt to disrupt the program. We let the speakers have their say.
As they always do, the MSU opened up the program with a prayer in Arabic and a reading from the Koran. Two or three students who apparently had family in Gaza spoke about their perception of the situation. Thankfully, there were no Amir Abdel Malik Alis, Alim Musas or Mohammed al-Asis present to spout their venom.
Of course, it would not have been complete without the obligatory talk by a university professor. His full name escapes me and I don't know him, so I won't bother with a partial name. Suffice to say, his 15 minute talk was laughable. One would think that a teacher would have some sort of a lesson plan to work with-you know, introduction, body, conclusion. The gentleman began his rambling talk by describing a situation in the Holy Land in the 1940s where Arabs and Jews were working hand-in-hand. Then he made a reference to how it was "all swept away by the events of the 1948 war". Of course, he conveniently left out any mention of how in 1948 the whole Arab world declared war when Israel declared itself an independent state. (I guess he didn't want to bore us with details.)
But bore us he did as he rambled on to talk about imperialism and the "Big Empire", which as it turns out was that certain empire that supplies the F-16s that Israel uses to.........well, you get the message. You gotta hand it to the lefties on our university campuses; they can't talk very long about Israel without launching into an attack on the bad old USA.
At any rate, the good professor mercifully cut short his "speech" because he had a 12:30 class to teach, so he left to go bore his own class. (even the MSU students were left in a daze.)
After an hour, the MSU/SAS formed into a line, shouted something in Arabic and proceeded to march up and around Ring Road that circles around the campus. That's a long march, so nobody bothered to follow them.*
Thanks and kudos to members of the local Jewish community-many of them senior citizens who had been informed about the event and took the trouble to come and show their support for Israel.
* According to a post-comment by "Anonymous", apparently some pro-Israel marchers did, in fact, follow the MSU/SAS demonstrators around Ring Road. If that is true, then I stand corrected on a minor point. I am not aware that any incidents occurred.
20 comments:
Thanks for the report - as a parent, I've been looking for info, and neither Reut nor Jonathan have had anything about the protests that my kid needs to walk through, and that I pay for, by virtue of the fees. And I've learned that in addition to the MSU, there exists the SAS -- is that a new group? MSU's site indicates the march was hosted by "a coalition of UCI student organizations;" do you know if there were more than just these two?
It was nice to see pictures of a MSU rally that had more Israeli supporters there than Muslims.
Glad to know that.
Anonymous,
Thank you for your comments. I don't know much about the SAS. They have not been as active as the MSU. As for that colaition, I don't know of any other groups who were involved. There are a couple of radical leftist groups on campus-Students for peace and justice comes to mind- but I don't think they were involved. You are correct. Your tuition fees pay for this because the MSU is funded by money taken from tuition fees. This money goes to bring in hate speakers on a regular basis.
I would suggest if you are concerned about the atmosphere on campus that you write to the university and let your feelings be known. Also speak out publicly.
Findalis.
I took pics, but I am still learning how to post them on my computer. We definitely outnumbered them, but we did not act improperly in any way. They fully exercised their right to free speech without any disruption.
One lady had a poster reading "proud mom of an IDF soldier".
I saw that mom on video yesterday.
It's ok Gary. I can't figure out how to download a video from the web or how to get one of these cameras to work.
What are you basing your statement that all of the demonstrators were "pro-Hamas" other than your own assumptions? Was everyone carrying pro-Hamas signs? Just because someone is against Israel's current actions that doesn't make them pro-Hamas. Indeed, hundreds of Jewish Israeli's recently protested their own government's actions. Are they pro-Hamas as well?
I am against Israel's current actions and I will say for the record that I am not pro-Hamas.
PS to Bryan,
You might want to do some research into the connections between the Muslim Brotherhood, the Muslim Student Associations in the US and Hamas. They are part of the same "family tree".
PS to Bryan,
You might want to do some research into the connections between the Muslim Brotherhood, the Muslim Student Associations in the US and Hamas. They are part of the same "family tree".
"That's a long march, so nobody bothered to follow them"
Wow. What a joke. The Israeli supporters followed the MSU everywhere they went.
Anonymous,
I didn't follow them. The people I was with didn't follow them. If some Israel supporters did, in fact, follow the MSU, please let us know what happened.
Don't the members of the Israeli community, who supposedly "outnumbered" the coalition of student groups at UCI, have lives?! They don't have work? or families? or responsibilities to tend to? Or better yet they cannot have academic discussions with people rather than showing up and picking on Students with their chants and misleading, ill-cited signs?!
Maybe you should take a math class Mr. ESL... 75 does not outnumber 400....Israeli community did not outnumber the Pro- Humanity community. and Tell me why only 20-30 actual STUDENTS were supporting Israel at this event ???
I just figured out how to get an "identity" that is more than "anonymous" but still maintains my child's anonymity, as requested. I will be taking your advice and writing to the Chancellor as well as the UC Regents about my child's discomfort and fear, as well as the school's obligation to remediate both. I, for the record, am a non-practicing lawyer, and understand (and to a certain extent, support) the protections of the Constitution vis-a-vis hate speech. It appears that the recent UCI protests did not cross the line, about which I take some comfort. Thanks for your efforts in bringing the events of UCI to light for parents who aren't close enough to witness events themselves.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
For both sharing your support by attending this event and by posting it here.
To Jane and UCI parent,
I thank you for your messages of support. Please don't think that anti-Semitism at UCI is widespread. 99% of UCI's students are not involved in this ugliness. All in all, it is a great student body. Unfortunately, we do have an element that is not only anti-Israel, but in many cases, anti-Jew and anti-America. They have their right of free speech, which they exercised Thursday and we exercised ours by our signs and flags. Our job is to ensure that this is reported and the public is aware. I will also continue to speak out when the university administration fails to denounce hate speech on their campus.
Dear Mr. Anonymous,
First point. Some of the Jewish community members who came are retired UC professors who also happen to be Jewish. Some are parents of Jewish students who are concerned about the atmosphere their sons and daughters have to go to school in.
I didn't have a clicker to count the students, Muslims, Jews etc, but I would certainly maintain that the pro-Israel supporters outnumbered the "Pro-Humanity" crowd as you describe them (what a joke). But you are correct. Math isn't my long suit, but my old eyes are still pretty good.
If it is true that only 20-30 Jewish students were there, I think that is because the Jewish community is somewhat fractured as my own Jewish friends readily state. I am sure there are many who don;t want to get into confrrontaions with Muslim students over this Israel issue. That is their business.
Anonymous,
I accidentally broke off my response, so this is a continuation. I wanted to respond to your statement about Jewsih people coming to campus and "picking on" students with their chanting and signs.
Only once did I hear a group of counter-protestors chanting when a few people started saying, "stop the rocket attacks" that lasted about 10 seconds. As for the signs, you disagree with them, so what is there to say.
If, in fact, some counter-protestors followed the Palestinian supporters along Ring Rd and chanted something, I am unaware.
The Israeli supporters who did follow MSU actually ended up blocking the MSU march right around the engineering buildings. MSU turned around and went through Aldrich park and then back onto Ring Road which ended up getting far more attention anyway. And the Israeli supporters, of course, followed MSU shouting "MSU is just confused." Lame.
Anonymous,
OK, I'll take your word for that. Consider this, however.
Last week in Ft Lauderdale, a young woman shouted, "Go back to the ovens", You need a bigger oven". There were signs saying, "Nuke Israel".
On Jan 6 in front of the Israeli Consulate in LA, a young man said to the cameras, "Long live Hitler", Hitler rest in peace".
Yesterday in LA at the federal building, one Middle Eastern motorist shouted to one of our Israel-supporters, "Go Hitler!"
That is why I am so outspoken on this issue. At the very core of all this, it is not about land-it is about religion. It is about a hatred that goes back over a thousand years. It is a hatred that we do not want on our shores. (We have enough hatreds floating around on our own.)
I don't take sides. I just hope that this issue will soon be settled peacefully.
Post a Comment