SUNY Albany Anti-Occupation Protest: Thursday 31 Oct 2002
Author: yunus fiske
summary
protest which took place at SUNY Albany over Sharon's senior advisors arrival
web link
www.sustaincampaign.org
This is the article metroland published about the protest the only
correction is i was not holding a victory sign bit a peace one
Controversial UAlbany appearance by Israeli official goes off without
incident—and without changed minds‘
Yes, that is good, you can raise the signs,”
Dr. Ra’anan Gissin, senior advisor to Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon, said to the protester who held up a sign with the slogan
“Free Palestine” at Gissin’s speech on University at
Albany’s uptown campus Monday night. “Yes, that’s
the broken record you’ve been harping for the last 30 years, and
look what it’s brought you—more suffering.”
Gissin spoke as part of a national movement by Jewish ethnic and religious
groups called Caravan for Democracy, which brings prominent Israelis to lecture
on college campuses across the United States. Gissin said he brought “a message
of peace,” but a number of student demonstrators faulted UAlbany for allowing
student groups to cosponsor a man who, to them, represented genocide.
“In all respects, [Sharon] is an indicted war criminal,” said Yunus
Fiske, leader of the campus chapter of Stop U.S. Aid to Israel Now, and one
of the protest’s leaders. “People would think it would be inappropriate for
a senior advisor for Milosovich to come and talk about the occupation of
Bosnia.”
A total of roughly 25 to 30 activists protested outside the event, and
a smaller number of pro-Israel students countered on the other side. A handful
of anti-Sharon students later disrupted Gissin’s lecture.
Gissin’s speech came at a time when tension was already high between
UAlbany’s Jewish community and activists protesting Israel’s treatment of
Palestinians.
“There has been some chalking, some flyers being ripped down, a couple
of anti-Israel slogans that were written onto one of the flyers at the student
Hillel office,” said David Liebschutz, executive director of SUNY’s chapter
of Hillel, a nationwide Jewish community organization.
“Remember Jenin” was one such phrase, and “Zionism is just another dirty word” showed up in more than one spot.
“Graffiti is the coward’s way out,” said Shelly Shapiro, director of
community relations for the United Jewish Federation of Northeastern New
York. “Caravan for Democracy is about dialogue.”
All anti-Sharon activists interviewed denied any involvement with the chalking.
“There’s a lot of backlash against us,” Fiske said, “and [the university
is] trying to get rid of us as a group. . . . They’re saying that we’re anti-Semitic.
. . . We have Jewish members, and I believe that both sides are terrorizing
the other.”
The student groups backing the event—Hillel, Hamagshimim, and Tagar—and
Jewish community leaders said they hoped the event would foster discussion.
For much of the time, the two groups, standing on opposite sides of
the small fountain in front of the Campus Center, just chanted slogans at
each other.
“Hey hey, ho ho,” they shouted, with each side respectively finishing with “Arafat . . .” or “Sharon . . . has got to go.”
Civil dialogue eventually took place among a few individuals, but both
camps also had one or two people who did not seem interested in talking.
Metroland photographer John Whipple said that as he tried to take a photo
of speakers from opposing sides talking calmly, a protester from the pro-Israel
side blocked his view with a sign and refused to move.
As Gissin began to speak, Fiske remained standing with his hand raised
in a victory sign. Gissin said Israel wants peace with its neighbors, but
added that the rest of the world often unfairly questions its legitimacy,
and he said he has found he must spend most of his time justifying Israel’s
existence to its detractors.
“Before I can explain the policies of Ariel Sharon or Barak, I have to explain why I exist,” he said.
Six other protesters joined Fiske in the back of the audience, numbering
roughly 400 people. The protesters shouted slogans such as “End the occupation,”
“End apartheid,” and “The occupation is terrorism,” and Gissin spent much
of his time addressing the protesters directly, often seeming to identify
them as Palestinians themselves.
“You can try to reason with people,” Gissin began at one point, referring
to his claim that Israel has made every effort to negotiate with Palestine.
“Not with Sharon,” a protester cut him off.
“You know, we have been surviving you and other people like you for
4,000 years before your people walked the face of the Earth,” Gissin shot
back, drawing thunderous applause.
“I feel like after the guy who held up the banner made his point, [Gissin]
made us the target for the rest of the time,” said one of the seven speech
protesters, who asked to remain anonymous. “I don’t feel that [Gissin] made
any points. He pretty much made anybody in the opposition out to be a Palestinian.”
Gissin said that while Israel has always worked for peace, terrorism
must be confronted and fought. He compared the fear many Western nations
now have of terrorism to Israel’s fight with Palestinians and other Arab
nations. Gissin said he hoped more of the world would recognize that fighting
back against terror is necessary. He also defended Israeli occupation of
Palestinian territory as provoked by suicide bombings, and downplayed the
United Nations’ criticism of Israel’s actions in the occupied territories.
“In Jenin, we applied the highest military standard that no other military has applied,” Gissin said.
After violent protests against pro-Israeli speakers in Berkeley, Calif.,
last year and in Montreal this year, the event’s organizers had some safety
concerns. In fact, private security accompanied Gissin, and campus police
milled around the protest. But the event ended peacefully. While anti-Sharon
protesters condemned the suicide bombings that Gissin spoke about, their
leaders were not persuaded by his speech, and while pro-Israel demonstrators
said they understood Palestine’s desire for a homeland, they were unmoved.
“It took a lot of courage for these people to be out here, but they’re
really missing the point,” said Julien Andrew, who demonstrated on the pro-Israel
side.
“We got our message across,” said Usman Farooq, vice president of the
Muslim Student Association and a protest leader. “Obviously, we can’t go
to Israel and change what is going on, but this is the least we could do.”
At around 10 PM, Farooq mentioned that he had been protesting outside
since noon, and could no longer feel his toes in the cold weather.
“But you have to stick with what you believe in,” he said.