Just a few feet separated the competing demonstrations on Marsh Plaza, but for the rival groups that crowded in the shadow of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial statute, their differing messages of peace and human rights might as well have been a world apart.
Hundreds of Boston University students, representing either BU Students for Israel or Students for Justice in Palestine, chanted and waved flags in the cold wind for more than two hours Thursday afternoon.
The rallies, though peaceful, were often tense, with members of both groups pausing at some points to debate the opposition right on the brick sidewalk adjacent to the plaza.
BU Police Department officers stood on the curb of Commonwealth Avenue just in front of the rallies, interrupting every so often to intervene in debates that got too testy.
Students representing SJP held up large pieces of gray Styrofoam, which members said represented the “apartheid wall” bordering Palestinian occupied territory.
Text scrawled on the walls had slogans such as “tear down the wall, free Gaza” and “we want justice, we want peace in Gaza.”
Second-year College of Arts and Sciences Ph.D student and SJP member Ian Chinich said the group was looking to draw student attention to the conflict between Israel and Palestine as part of Israel Apartheid Week.
“We just want people to know and to understand,” Chinich said. “Most Americans never have to experience living under occupation.”
Meanwhile, members and supporters of BUSI gathered further back in Marsh Plaza, holding Israeli flags, singing songs such as “One Day” by musician Matisyahu and having a moment of silence for peace in Israel.
College of Arts and Sciences junior and President of BUSI Rachelle Rubin addressed about 100 BUSI supporters, stressing the importance of peaceful and respectful demonstration.
“Today we gather respectfully here at BU to promote the virtues of truth and tolerance,” Rubin said. “Sadly these values have been overlooked in the past. We are asking to put aside these hostilities.”
Before the rallies officially began at about 2 p.m., BUPD officers were heard asking members of SJP to move further back into Marsh Plaza, so as not to obstruct pedestrians travelling down the sidewalk. SJP complied, and the rally went on peacefully.
Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, who attended the rallies, said he was impressed with the way that the two student groups were able to conduct their respective gatherings with respect for one another’s causes.
“Thank God that students are engaged on issues that they find important to themselves,” Elmore said “I love the fact that there’s a little bit of civic engagement going on.”
CAS junior and Vice President of Hillel House Meggie Wyschogrod said she was pleased with the civility with which the two groups were able to hold their rallies in such close proximity.
“SJP is being very respectful today which we haven’t experienced in the past,” Wyschogrod said. “If it could be like this every day I would be ecstatic.”
Chinich, however, said that while SJP and BUSI were able to share the forum of Marsh Plaza for their rallies, he had received complaints from members of BUSI earlier in the week concerning SJP’s representation of the “apartheid wall.”
“They’re embarrassed about our wall because the real wall is an embarrassment,” Chinich said. “If they’re so concerned about the image of the wall, they should tear the wall down.”
While addressing the crowd of BUSI supporters, Rubin agreed with Chinich that while the two student groups were able to respectfully co-host their rallies, she still felt some contention with SJP.
“We are being demonized for supporting the right of a democratic Jewish state,” she said.
Chinich said that while the BUSI rally had an impressive turnout, he felt that the group’s rally was not an accurate representation of the Jewish community at BU.
“We find that [BUSI] does not represent the broader Jewish community at BU,” Chinich said. “We’re here to talk to the BU students who are Jewish who aren’t necessarily pro-Israeli.”
Some attendees said they came to show their support for the discourse taking place between similar groups on college campuses across the country.
Margot Einstein, of Newton, said she believes it is “crucial to spread awareness” and support for Israel.
“All across America is this Israel Apartheid Week,” she said. “Israel is not an apartheid state.”
Crowds began to disperse at about 4 p.m. as the rallies wound down.
Elmore said that he hopes to see similar rallies taking place in the same peaceful nature at BU in the future.
“What’s wonderful here is I don’t see anybody being violent, I don’t see any vandalism, I don’t see anyone doing harm to anyone,” Elmore said. “This is good old fashioned democracy.”
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The main poster that impressed me most and seemed to sum up the students for Israel’s message to the “wall” was one that said “Extremism is the real obstacle to peace, Don’t bring it to our campus.” While it’s nice that today both sides were civil, like Wyschogrod said, most days during these past two weeks I have witnessed and heard about members of SJP yelling obscenities to pro-Israel students and hassling them. If both sides were really looking for peace, then it would come across on both sides and in both messages. Right now, it’s clearly only coming from the students for Israel.
I would like to know what obscenities were yelled and when. I was tabling with SJP for most of the past two weeks and I don’t recall hearing anything of the sort. But if true, I’d like to know about it, so that it can addressed internally.
Meanwhile, however, BUSI – despite its cheerful nature – has been responsible for trying to shut down and silence every single SJP activity and event the past two weeks. SJP has had to deal with the Anti-Defamation League harassing BU administrators; David Horowitz and his rabid FrontPage Mag has found its way to campus and at the throat of SJP; BUSI or BUSI-aligned infiltrators have attended SJP meetings, signed up on SJP listservs, and engaged in the general harassment of SJP. This is not a cheerful group. This is a group intent on defending its interests and using lots of money (much of which comes from Israel-aligned foundations) to do it. No tactic is unacceptable; and after more than four decades of perfecting these techniques, the pro-Israel-occupation crowd is very good at being two-faced: presenting itself as one who just wants to engage in cross-cultural dialogue, while at the same time using Stalinist-like tactics to silence opposition groups.
To BUSI’s credit, they were even able to win over some of BU’s administrators, who forced SJP to dance through bureaucratic hurdles to find a space to demonstrate on campus (eventually, SJP just refused to jump through hoops any longer and used the public sidewalks), while BUSI was granted permits to Marsh Chapel with sound system within a day. This apparent disparity in treatment should be an item of utmost concern for BU students, for the Dean’s Office should not be making decisions based on their favored politics.
But for those who showed up at the demonstration today, it was obvious who was the crowd intent on antagonizing the opposition. SJP’s mock apartheid wall display was fairly silent. No SJP members entered the Marsh Chapel plaza and engaged with the Hillel crowd. On the other hand, the Hillel and BUSI crowd did antagonize (waving flags in the faces of SJP students; standing in front of SJP’s banners; using inflammatory speech towards SJP demonstrators, etc.). The BU Police had to break up BUSI students harassing an SJP member, not the other way around.
Prove it. I don’t believe for a moment that BUSI students in any way bothered SJP members. Who would want to get too close to the smelly SJP anyway?
Maybe the SJP had difficulty finding a venue to spew their hatred because 1. No one believes their lies 2. No one wants a hate group at their venue and 3. advocating terror and genocide is illegal.
funny you are saying SJP advocates genocide when you are actively advocating the same fate for Palestinians as the American Indians
Tell my please how the “genocide” of Arabs (there are no such people as “Palestinians) is being carried out. The Arab population of both Israel and the disputed territories has increased by over 50% in past years.
Meanwhile, the PA and Hamas both OPENLY advocate genocide.
Stop your lies and learn the truth.
I personally can’t prove it but I’m sure if you ask around (I believe even Dean Elmore may have witnessed it) several people will be able to tell you of at least two separate incidents where BUSI supporters were told by police to 1) stop harassing and surrounding an SJP member and 2) take their flags and their signs and return to Marsh where they were supposed to be. I wasn’t even involved in the protest and I witnessed both of these events.
The police asked the pro-Israel students to stay at Marsh for their own safety; their gathering was SUPPOSED to be in front of the building but the police thought (probably rightly) that the SJP and their ugly cohorts were a danger.
I did not see any BUSI supporters harassing everyone. I did hear obscenities and taunts from the SJP.
Does everyone see all the lies that ‘Not Fooling me’ has been spewing? It’s such obvious propaganda that it makes me sick. This should give anyone unfamiliar with the situation a reason to look into the claims of SJP (which are all documented extensively).
Completely untrue, TL, there is absolutely NO documentation for any of SJP’s claims. Do you notice them giving any FACTS? All their allegations are conclusory; there is no evidence at all to support ANYTHING they say. Lying about the “many” relatives of Holocaust victims, saying that ‘Palestinians’ can’t vote when both Gazans and West Bank Arabs hold their own elections, etc. They claim Israel is apartheid, when it is THEY who support ethnic cleansing! Total lies. The goal of SJP is not to ‘help Palestinians’ – if they wanted to do that they would work towards reforming the tyrannical and corrupt PA and Hamas. Their true goal is the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews.
There’s no way you can refute the FACT that 100% of Gazans and 98% of West Bank Arabs vote in their own elections.
There’s no way you can refute the FACT that the ‘Palestinian’ population has grown 30% over the past ten years.
There’s no way you can refute the FACT that nearly 1,000,000 Jews were murdered or expelled from Arab countries since 1947 – MORE than the Arab population that left Israel hoping to return to a ‘Judenfrei’ land.
There’s no way you can refute the FACT that Israel left Gaza in the hopes of peace, evacuating its own citizens and leaving millions of dollars of greenhouses and other equipment, only to be ‘rewarded’ with 8,000 rocket attacks. Why could the Jewish community of Gaza support itself, yet when left the very means of production used by the Jews, Gazan Arabs couldn’t do the same? (Hint: it was because they destroyed the greenhouses that had been owned by Jews).
SJP cannot muster a single FACT in support of its nonsensical claims of abuse. Its disgusting, slanderous, and untrue statements are entirely made up and have no basis in reality. It’s the Hitler “big lie” tactic all over again. And if you think I’m accusing SJP of being just like Nazi’s, you’re right. By supporting the genocidal Hamas and P.A., attempting to set up yet another terror state at Israel’s borders, and attempting to deny Israel’s right to defend itself, they have the same goal Hitler did. The only difference is that the SJP and similar groups are a little more subtle about it.
You can tell yourself there is no documentation of SJP’s claims if that helps you sleep better at night. I bet you’d also say that IDF soldiers would never shoot at ambulance drivers or aid workers trying to recover corpses even if I provided you with video evidence.
For one, my grandfather was a holocaust surviver whos parents were killed in Auschwitz. He was placed in a Nazi work camp as a small boy and remained there until the war was over and was able to come to the United States. So that’s one of your claims down. As for the voting, there was already supposed to be another election – Hamas’ rule was to be over by now. Many Palestinians are fed up with life under the dual occupation of Israel and Hamas and are trying to do something about it. Corruption in the PA? Yep – sure is. They have been doing Israel’s dirty work for some time now in opposition to the will of the Palestinian people.
Also, you need only look at the numbers to see who is really the group involved with ethnic cleansing. You need only look at the towns that have over time forced out Arab residents and the “settlements” popping up.
Honestly, I don’t know why I am taking the time to respond to you. The information is out there. . you obviously have access to the internet and could find it if you were so motivated to do so. Why do you think more and more people are being won over to the Palestinian side? Once you get passed the pro-Israel talking heads of the mass media and do your own research you come to a very obvious conclusion regarding the “conflict.”
“Dual occupation of Israel and Hamas”? Are you crazy? Israeli VOLUNTARILY evacuated its citizens from Gaza five years ago. There is only one Israeli in Gaza now. His name is Gilad Shalit. He was kidnapped from Israel and has been held incommunicado – no Red Cross visits, no packages – nothing – for over four years.
And you think that corruption in the PA is Israel’s fault also. What else is Israel’s fault? – global warming, the U.S. economy, sunspots? I don’t believe you are Jewish, b/c what you say is so clasically anti-semitic. How exactly is PA corruption Israel’s fault? Did “Israeli” (aka “Jews”) force Arafat to accept bribes and steal money? Do they force the current PA leaders to do so? Your claims are literally insane.
Your false claim about ‘shooting at ambulance drivers’ is also nuts. Can you prove this? (note: a Hamas press announcement doesn’t count; I mean an INDEPENDENTLY verifiable analysis w/photos, etc. You can’t, b/c it never happened. For an analysis of this ‘claim’, see http://www.zombietime.com (look on the left, “Red Cross Ambulance Incident”. It summarizes the FACTS of this claim and has photographs, etc..
You can’t provide one single specific fact to support anything you say. It’s all conclusory statements with nothing – I mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING – to support it except anti-semitic claims that ‘the Jews are responsible for….”.
Frankly I don’t believe that your grandfather is a Holocaust survivor (you’ve lied about everything else, why not this?) but it doesn’t matter anyway. You are either an anti-semite, despite your claimed Jewish heritage, or a total fool. If you weren’t so blinded by hate and stupidity, I would suggest you read accurate sources like http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org the Israeli Foreign Ministry website, the Jerusalem Post, and other REPUTABLE publications. Oh, wait. Those sources are primarily JEWISH (never mind that the Foreign Ministry has Arab diplomats and the J Post has great Arab writers such as Khaled Abu Toameh). Because if there are JEWS and/or ISRAELIS involved, it can’t be trusted. Of course.
Re people being forced out of their homes – what about the thousands of Jews that JORDAN either MURDERED or expelled when it (illegally) occupied the West Bank from 1948-1967? Or do they not count, even though they had lived there for hundreds of years, because they are JEWS? What about the 1,000,000 Jews ethnically cleansed from Arab nations (including Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Iraq, which BTW is where most so-called “Palestinians” emigrated from less than 100 years ago).
And if you knew anything about the War of Independence at all, you would know that Arab leaders TOLD their followers to leave so that they could more easily fight (kill) Jews without worrying about accidentally killing other Arabs. Remember, the entire world – especially the Arab world which liked to think of itself as invincible – expected a quick and easy Arab victory. The Arab leaders thought it would take just a couple of weeks to kill or expel the Jews, then the Arabs could return and take over the Jews’ property. They were wrong.
Those so-called “settlements” are villages and towns where Jewish families have lived and farmed for hundreds of years (with the nineteen-year exception of the Jordanian occupation). Why shouldn’t Jews live on land they have legally bought (from Arabs, usually at inflated prices)?
Do YOU believe in ethnic cleansing and apartheid? It sure sounds like it.
Why do you support such racist ideas?
“I don’t believe for a moment that BUSI students in any way bothered SJP members.”
This week I had my first meetups with SJP. On Tuesday we were repeatedly called terrorists by BUSI. Is that not bothering us? We also could see members of BUSI talking to BU officials to try to shut us down simply because BUSI disagrees with our message. Is that not immature? Is that not bothering us? We have the same exact rights that BUSI does. And as far as I know, we have never even thought about shutting down a pro-Israeli demonstration.
On Thursday we were again being threatened with being shut down. When we weren’t, we were harassed by BUSI members who would walk over and wave their little Israel flags in front of our faces without saying a word. No talking, no productive conversation, nothing. Just a smirk. Is that not bothering us? A lot of the members of BUSI need to grow up and attempt to understand the other side of the debate. It’s hard for us to take you seriously and listen to what you’re saying when you’re acting like 12 year olds.
As far as I know, we stayed where we were supposed to be. I did not see a single member of SJP walk over to the pro-Israel protest and attempt to provoke something. If I’m wrong about that, I’d like to know.
We do not spew hatred. We spew equality. We are the antithesis of a hate group. We do not advocate violence. We do not advocate genocide. In fact, those are the exact reasons that we are out there. We want an end to those horrible things.
“Who would want to get too close to the smelly SJP anyway?”
Seriously? You’re further proving my point. Too many members of the BUSI focus on ad hominem attacks and straw man arguments. Grow up.
Your claim about supporting “equality” is laughable. You support ethnic cleansing, religious discrimination, and (indirectly) genocide. You don’t even adhere to your own statement of purpose, which supposedly condemns religious discrimination. Yet you believe in making large swaths of land Judenrein (Jew-free) and in ethnically cleansing people from where they have lived for centuries.
And what’s this nonsense that Arab West Bank and Gaza residents are don’t ‘control their own future’ (ie. don’t elect their leaders)? There are NO JEWS in Gaza at all – except one, Gilad Shalit, who has been kept incommunicado for over four years. And you claim that Israel is OPPRESSING Gazans? Israel supplies electricity, water, etc. to Gaza (foolish, IMO). Gazans DO vote in their own elections – they elected Hamas, remember? Israel VOLUNTARILY ‘gave’ Gaza ‘back’ to the Gazans, expelled their own people, and were rewarded with 8,000 rockets in return.
And do you know that 90& of West Bank Arabs live under the control of the P.A., who they also ELECTED? The P.A. runs schools, issues building permits, collects taxes, etc.
So what’s you problem? That there are Jews in Israel? Sorry, we won’t commit suicide to please you and your anti-semitic friends.
Correction – 98% of West Bank Arabs live under PA jurisdiction.
Correction of on my correction: TLC’s number one hit was actually “Waterfalls”, not “Scrub” as previously indicated.
Here are some great on-the-ground blogs that will give you timely and factual information about Israel and the Middle East (EofZ blog also has some great, funny posters debunking the “A” claim): http://www.elderofziyon.blogspot.com, http://www.israelmatsav.blogspot.com, http://www.solomonia.com (Boston-based, not limited to Israel). You can find other excellent blogs linked at those sites as well.
You have witnessed SJP members yelling obscenities? That sounds serious, like something you should report, and document (which might be the hard part cause I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen, except PERHAPS while SJP members were getting harassed by BUSI students coming up to the GSU link table to pick a fight and rip up flyers.)
And all this talk of “thankfully SJP wasn’t disruptive” is nonsense. For the record, the only protestors who were told (quite forcefully) to move, return to their positions, and stop disrupting the other, were students supporting Israel. They were also the ones approaching the SJP students (not the other way around) and engaging in this “tense” dialogue. For all the talk about SJP “spreading propaganda” it certainly seems they have acquired a reputation they have not earned, and I can only imagine where THAT came from.
It HAS been documented; there have been complaints, including by clergy, to BU administration about the obscenities. I have no doubt that action will be taken on this.
In the past, SJP and similar groups have harassed mourners at Holocaust memorial services, attempted to prevent attendees at a CAMERA conference from entering the building where the conference took places, and yes, harassed and intimidated pro-Israel students (primarily slightly-build women; the bullies only go after easy targets).
SJP and other genocide supporters can dish it out but they can’t take it.
I can guarantee that BU SJP has never harassed mourners at Holocaust memorial services. Though I cannot speak for other chapters around the nation, there is a general understanding that that sort of behavior is NOT acceptable (and many of our members are Jewish, many from families of Holocaust survivors) I find this assertion, without any credible proof and details, a personal attack and hurtful attempt at tarnishing a reputation of people who would never support ANY genocide. Your claims are ludicrous.
Also, as a participant at the CAMERA protest in October, I can also assure you that no BU SJP members blocked anyone from entering the GSU as we were relegated to (and stayed on) the sidewalk outside the building. To the contrary, we, BU students were told that we could not have our protest in our own student center because it was in use by an outside, non affiliated organization. There was a police presence and, though we were asked to back up a few steps at one point, the only intervention was again to remove the slightly built women and overly angry men who chose to come yell in our faces (don’t kid yourself and think the little women are always innocents 😉
It’s a complete lie that SJP has “many” members from families of Holocaust survivors! Do you poll members for this information? I know you don’t, it’s completely made up as are the rest of your lies
As for claiming that SJP and similar anti-Israel forces don’t disrupt Holocaust memorial events, see the Boston Globe report: Holocaust Lessons Stated Anew (4/12/10) and the police report of the arrests. There’s lots more evidence from previous years also.
Re the CAMERA event – that’s not what I saw. What I saw were obscenities and harassment. But as you lie about everything else, why shouldn’t you lie about this?
You are right, I shouldn’t say “many” of our members. Several who I know personally in SJPs around the country have family members who survived. Many of our members are Jewish. Neither of these things should matter all that much because we are all just students who are standing up peacefully to raise awareness and defend our belief in justice and equality.
The report you cite was NOT about Students for Justice in Palestine members. Our group cannot be help responsible for the actions of people unaffiliated with us at an event we were not party to. Thats ridiculous.
You will continue to say I am lying about CAMERA so I am not going to fight on that. Were we chanting loud? YES. It was a protest. Swearing? Nope. Blocking anyone? Nope. Harrassing? We were stationary, people were coming up to us yelling in our faces that we were wrong, going to hell etc etc etc. If you consider that harassment on OUR part, well, you’re just wrong.
SJP is affiliated with the Palestine Solitarity Movement/International Solidarity Movement. The Holocaust memorial ‘protestors’ are members of that group. So fine, you personally don’t harass mourners at Holocaust commemoration events. You just affiliate with and support people who do.
Photos of the Holocaust Day harassers are here: http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archive/2010/04/boston-anti-semite-arrested-at-holocaust/.
Here is the arrest report: http://www.solomonia.com/blog/images/2010/04/bob%20bowes%20arrest.pdf
All the b.s. claims against Israel are conclusory, while pro-Israel forces can back up our statements with FACTS. Such as your absurd claim about your “many” supporters from Holocaust survivor families. You totally made that up! – can you provide ANY evidence to support it (that isn’t also fabricated). Admit it, you make up “facts” and then back down when it’s shown their false. By the way, that is called “lying”.
Photos of cute puppies are here:
http://www.dailypuppy.com/
If you’re trying to make claims about these puppies not being cute, STEP OFF. These puppies are cute as a button and I will not hear a word against it!
The above entry by “Not fooling me” is NOT my (the original “not fooling me”) writing. It is some kind of attempt to make me look foolish and/or crazy. Please Stop.
What does the Holocaust have to do with this? That is such a stereotypical tactic, when we can’t refute their claims invoke the “H word.” No one believes any of your rubbish here.
If you followed the thread, you’d know the issue is SJP and related group’s behavior. Harassing mourners on Holocaust Memorial Day is typical of these anti-semitic supporters of genocide. And the Shoah is fully relevant here, as their goal is to support the Arabs while they continue the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Jews in the Middle East. Nearly one million Jews have already been murdered or ethnically cleansed from Arab countries in the past 60 years (bet you didn’t know that). Please try reading some history so you can learn something.
Which SJP members were there harassing mourners? I have read history, have you read any regarding Israel’s actions?
Why are you trying to change the subject to my ability to identify the individuals who harrassed BUSI member?
What about the FACT that SJP LIES when they say ‘Palestinians’ don’t have the right to vote (completely untrue – they elected Hamas and the P.A.).
What about the fact that Ian Chinich (SJP head) LIES when he accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ , when the FACT is that the ‘Palestinian’ population has grown 30% in the past decade?
What about the fact that Chinich (or whoever wrote the below) LIES when they claim that “many SJP supporters had relatives die in the Holocaust”, when they admit later that it is NOT TRUE?
Did you yourself know anything about the expulsion of Jews from Arab lands, the genocidal charters of the P.A. and Hamas, and the support of SJP affiliate the ISM has given to terrorists? (ISM members admittedly helped smuggle into Israel the terrorists who bombed Mike’s Place in Tel Aviv. Look it up if you don’t believe me).
SJP lies, supports genocidal organizations, and outright supports the destruction of the state of Israel (a so-called “right of return” of Arabs – especially in the manner envisioned by the PA – WITHOUT corresponding rights for Jews would mean the end of the Jewish state). Yet you deny all of this. Lies, lies, lies.
groups affiliated with SJP harrassed Holocaust mourners?
Look, I retracted the word “many” because thats a quantitative measurement for which I have no numbers to support. Perhaps I should have said “many of the SJP students I PERSONALLY know have family members who survived the Holocaust” Want to fight me on that? It wasn’t a lie, lies imply intention, I was simply speaking of my own experience. Let it go, guy! I reworded my statement, god….
And also, stop the claims that SJP affiliated groups were attacking mourners. These individuals (and thats what they were acting as, individuals, not as an organization) made a decision, one which was in poor taste, IMO. You will not see these individuals acting like this at a BU SJP event, nor would you see BU SJP involved in something like that. Our student members (these men were not students, and therefore, cannot be part of STUDENTS for justice in Palestine) are firm yet respectful. Are we responsible for every pro Palestine person in the city? the Northeast? the country? No, that’s foolish, just as it would be to say that you stand with and are responsible for the crimes of Baruch Goldstein (which I can only HOPE you do not)
The point is that you (and the SJP) make outrageous claims without a shred of fact, then back off and say “oh, I’m sorry” when called on it. It’s not just this – it’s other completely false and baseless claims that can be easily disproven. Just on this page it was claimed that West Bank Arabs ‘can’t choose their own leaders’ (FALSE – they vote in PA elections), that Israel somehow practices ‘apartheid’ (FALSE – Arabs serve on the Israeli Supreme Court, in the Israeli Foreign Service, are university professors (in primarily Jewish universities as well as Arab universities), etc.). In actuality, it is the SJP that supports apartheid and ethnic cleansing by demanding a Jew-free state in the West Bank. It is the pattern of lies, not just this particular lie, that’s the problem.
As I said before, SJP is affiliated with the PSM/ISM, which are the people harassing mourners at Holocaust Day Services. And calling that disgusting act “in poor taste, IMO” is really a poor condemnation of such a vile act. It’s like calling genocide and ethnic cleansing “not very nice”. Oh wait, you support that. Never mind.
Oh yeah totally anna, that’s exactly how it went down students for israel is just the tops. civility, eh. good stuff, good stuff. man i love me some civility way to go guys, with the civility, i mean. just a bunch of us civll people being civil, you know how it is. man i can’t get enough civility! just when i think “i should be sick of civility by now!” i keep coming back for more. so kudos and thanks for the dose of vitamin C (the c stands for civility). extremes are bad, we don’t want that, everything should stay in the safe marshmallow center, you certainly made an impression on this young customer. everything’s a-okay! feelin fine!
I’m not even going to say what side I am aligned with, but will say that every comment I’ve read so far disgusts me as a BU student. This is not a game of who can claim the other side did something worse. SJP and BUSI members have both been offended over the past few weeks. Members of both groups have acted inappropriately, but there have also been (the vast majority of both sides) members who have acted with utter civility. By getting involved in these hurtful ‘who did what’ arguments we are hurting both groups and getting away from the main issue. There are both Palestinians and Israelis that are suffering every day. We are both on campus to help them! Not to try and hurt other BU students.
I am making an appeal to both BUSI and SJP. Leaders of these groups- please make sure that your members do not write or say harmful things to others. Members of both groups are guilty of this. Firstly, that needs to be admitted by both sides. As someone who is very involved with this issue, I have seen it from members of both groups. Secondly, leaders of both groups you NEED to tell your members that being aggressive or using terrible language is hurting our campus and hurting the people we are trying to help.
SJP and BUSI let’s both be honest and let’s move in a positive direction. We need a joint effort for that.
Some very terrible things have been said. We need to apologize for what has been done and work on moving in a direction where things like what are written above are NEVER said again.
It sounds corny, but if on our campus we can’t even be civil to one another how do we expect the groups of people we are advocating for to do it?
I would like to make an factual statement: stop it with the LIES, guys! I personally saw SJP spitting on a baby! I’m calling you out sjp! Enough with the baby spitting! How many babies is too many? While BUSI was passing out free hugs and teddy bears, SJP was conjuring rainclouds to rain on women with a slight build (an easy target for weather magic). I call upon SJP to renounce black Magick of all forms and stand with those who are for peace and truth: the ultranationalist Israelis. They know what’s up and aren’t swayed with petty rhetoric and witchcraft worthy of Fairuza Balk. So in conclusion, SJP: please stop making blood sacrifices on the steps of Marsh chapel and worshiping an angry forgotten Martian god.
Please stop impersonating me (the original “not fooling me”). Why don’t you use your own name or pseudonym?
It seems to me whoever that is is pointing about how absurd your accusations and mud slinging have been, with no actual proof anything that BU SJP has said or done. But I could be wrong 😉
I am an Israel supporter, yet nothing you are saying is in line with anything that Boston University, BUSI or any Israel supporter on campus believes. I can’t think of a single one of us who would ever accuse the SJP on our campus of ever doing something as offensive or absurd as spitting on a baby of being involved in Black Magic. Please stop misrepresenting all of us, people like you are taking serious issues and making them into a mockery.
The above entry by “Not fooling me” is NOT my (the original “not fooling me”) writing. It is some kind of attempt to make me look foolish and/or crazy. I totally agree with you, “You Need To Stop”. But please know, that is not the “Not fooling me” who wrote the above entries (except for the March 4 @ 12:33 entry).
Yeah right, you’re not fooling me, not fooling me. Won’t get fooled again!
I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for ALL of my above comments. After researching the issue more thoroughly and speaking with students who have been at the protests, I realize the tone and content of my comments has been unfair and wrong.
I do not, in fact, think that SJP supporters are smelly, ugly, liars, anti-semitic or genocide supporters as I have previously stated. These comments were made in the heat of an emotional moment and I would like to take this chance to retract them.
I recognize that SJP and its group of supporters are a diverse group made up of Jews, Muslims, Christians and more. I understand the legitimate concerns of this group regarding the abhorrent treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, in Israel, and the Diaspora.
I am not ready to call myself a supporter of the Palestinian people. I’ve fought for Israel for too long to do that yet. But I have realized that my understanding of the issue so far has been narrow, biased, and unbalanced, and I make this promise to all who have been hurt by my petty and unfair comments:
I will think before speaking, I will read before forming opinions, and I will limit my discourse to discussion of the issues and not petty attacks on the individuals in SJP seeking justice and freedom for the Palestinian people.
Another false post. Very mature. Why don’t you post your real name or pen name? You’re just another lying SJP supporter.
Yeah man just cut it out you’re letting down the Not fooling me clan with your apologies. Try to be more shrill next time.
Why don’t you comment on the ‘abhorrent’ treatment of Jews by Arabs – ie. 1,500 innocent Israelis murdered, three multi-country Arab attacks on Israel, openly genocidal aims of the PA and Hamas, indoctrination of hatred of children, etc. See http://www.memri.org (Palestinian Media Project) or just google “Palestinian indocrination children” to see literally hundreds of childrens’ videos. TV shows, etc. encouraging hatred and genocide.
Arabs in both Israel and the West Bank have more freedom than in ANY Arab country (source: Freedom House).
Learn the facts, and then tell me about the ‘poor Palestinians’ who receive the highest amount of per capita aid in the world.
learn facts kids! and eat your vitamins! it’s me your old pal martin solomon!
lol nice ending