LSE students disrupt Israeli Deputy FM lecture

Icon_article Star-blue1 Published: October 27, 2009 09:06 by James Caspell

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Over 50 Students and activists protested and disrupted a lecture tonight at the London School of Economics (LSE) by Daniel Ayalon, the controversial Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel. Protesters greeted Ayalon outside of the lecture on LSE’s campus with placards and banners, whilst inside audience members heckled the controversial Minister as a "racist" and "murderer" in relation to the illegal occupation and violence carried out by the Israeli state.
Ayalon was in the UK to meet British government officials and speaking at the LSE ahead of these talks in a lecture s titled "The Middle East: The View From Israel". Security at the university was tight, with private security and police officers keeping a close watch on protesters. The Minister began and ended his lecture amid boos and chants of “Free, Free, Palestine” whilst his speech was interrupted relentlessly throughout with audience members questioning Israel’s atrocities.

The action was organized by the LSE Students’ Union Palestine Society and the Palestine Solidarity Initiative. The London School of Economics Students' Union is officially twinned with Al-Najah University and has previously voted to divest funds from those companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The motion also called on LSE to respect human rights and follow suit in embracing a divestment agenda with regards to such companies. Students also held a week long occupation in January as a response to the Israeli attacks on Gaza last winter, resulting in LSE aggreeing to practically support Palestinian students affected by the violence.

Mira Hamed who attended the lecture and is the Chair of the LSE SU Palestine Society said after the protest, "The Palestine Society at LSE has grown in support since the atrocities committed in Gaza which explains the huge turnout tonight. We will continue to support the growing international resistance against the occupation of Palestine until a just peace is achieved."

Merna Al Azzeh, a Palestinian Masters student who was in the audience added, "As an LSE student, I find it disgusting that LSE could invite a Minister to speak from a racist government that has been committing war crimes for the last 60 years."

"The recent Goldstone Report overwhelmingly condemns the genocide waged against Gazan civilians last winter and as a Palestinian I am reassured by the growing international resistance to Israeli Apartheid".

For more information:

1. LSE SU Palestine Society: www.palsoc.org.uk
2. Palestine Solidarity Initiative: www.palestinesolidarity.org

Contact:
Mira Hammad ( m.hammad@lse.ac.uk)

Links:

Link_go Palestine Solidarity

Email Contact email: james.caspell@gmail.com

Additions

Protest Letter to LSE director

Comment Published: October 27, 2009 09:09 by Palestine Solidarity

Howard Davies,

We are writing to protest your decision to invite Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Daniel Ayalon to speak at LSE on Monday. We urge you to revoke his invitation on grounds of inciting racial hatred. As you may be aware, Daniel Ayalon was elected to government on a racist platform. His party, Yisrael Beiteinu, has consistently made vicious threats to revoke the citizenship of 1.5 million Palestinian citizens of Israel unless they swear allegiance to a Jewish state. This is tantamount to asking British Blacks to swear allegiance to a White Britain. Furthermore, there are numerous recorded instances when he incited against Palestinians, including the threat made by his party to "execute" the Palestinian Members of the Knesset if they establish contact with Palestinians in the occupied territories. Commentators are unanimous in classing Ayalon and his party as racists. His anti-Arab and bigoted views threaten the physical safety of LSE students originating from the region and will inflame tensions on campus.

To add insult to injury, LSE sent an e-mail to all students and staff advertising this event. Prominent in his biography is his involvement with University Center, an institution of state propaganda built on stolen land in the occupied West Bank. The university has been grey- listed by the University College Union for its role as an ideological incubator for Israel's violent and racist policies against Palestinians. LSE is in this way legitimizing the settlement enterprise while ignoring the costs associated with the suppression of Palestinian academic freedom.

As the Goldstone report states, Israel committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza last winter. Ayalon will most likely be whitewashing those crimes in his lecture, gaining legitimacy in doing so using the good name of LSE. War crimes should not be privy to free expression and if Ayalon indeed wishes to put forward Israel's case, there is a forum waiting for him in the Hague. The LSE should not provide a platform to racists and war criminals. It is a disrespectful to the memory of the thousands murdered by Israel's bombs and will incite hatred against student at the LSE on the basis of their ethnicity and religious belief.

Finally, we would like assurances from LSE that audiences for such events are not racially profiled as is required at venues where Israeli officials talk. We are worried that this may have happened already in the allocation of tickets for this event.

As you are ultimately responsible for the safety and wellbeing of students on campus, we ask you to reconsider your decision and immediately revoke the invitation of Ayalon.

Palestine Solidarity Initiative
LSE SU Palestine Society