March 9, 2008

Originally published in the Windsor Star

(Note: The tone of this article makes it sound like like shutting down free speech is a laughing matter. The flippant title of this article and the concluding quote from the campus radio host ( “So we've decided we are going to solve the Middle East crisis,” said Goldstein to laughter. “And we feel confident that we can do it.”) give the impression that the writers finds this coup quite humourous.   They won't find it so funny when Israel goes the way of its  apartheid counterpart South Africa as it inevitably will.

Anyone who is offended by this factual documentary should concentrate their efforts on condemning Israeli policies rather than shutting down the truth. The Windsor Star is a Canwest paper.)

Students solve Mideast crisis

BY DALSON CHEN AND CRAIG PEARSON
STAR STAFF REPORTERS

An event meant to shed light on the “crisis in Palestine” was cancelled at the University of Windsor on Tuesday following complaints that it would incite anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli bigotry.

Despite the controversy, leaders of Muslim and Jewish student groups said the cancelled event became a positive thing by inspiring dialogue. “Our goal was in no way to intimidate or to scare or to make anyone uncomfortable,” said Osama Iqbal, president of the Muslim Students Association.

Organized by the MSA, the event was to feature the screening of a film called Occupation 101: Voices of the Silenced Majority.

Jewish students say film hateful

The documentary film depicts Palestinians recounting abuse at the hands of Israeli soldiers.

Posters promoting the event included the sentence: “Say NO to these atrocities NOW and learn the FACTS.”

Dario David Hunter, president of the Windsor Jewish Students Association, described the film as “basically 90 minutes of indoctrination.”

“A lot of the mistruths mentioned in the film, a lot of the misperceptions, come under the category of the same old anti-Israel, anti-Semitic rants that have been around for decades,” Hunter said prior to the event's cancellation.

Hunter said he heard from several Jewish students who felt threatened by the event and how it was promoted.

Pamela Goldstein, who hosts a Jewish radio program on the campus station CJAM 91.5 FM, described the film as “horribly virulent.”

“I watched it on YouTube last night,” she said. “I just found it … very dramatic, and almost hysterical. It was an incitement to hatred. I mean, you watched that film and you wanted to hate every single Jew that ever lived.”

Iqbal said he wasn't aware the film was so problematic, and the MSA wasn't trying to inflame political or religious differences. He said the intent of the event was to focus on the humanitarian aspects of the situation in Palestine.

“It was basically anti-occupation, and not anti-Israel,” Iqbal said. “Actually, we were going to have an introduction, a briefing emphasizing that.”

Along with the film, the event was to include a lecture by Abdul Qadir Tayebi of the Windsor Islamic Association — described by Iqbal as the MSA's chaplain or spiritual adviser.

On the day of the event, Iqbal said he was approached by the university's international students adviser, and he made the decision to cancel once he realized how Jewish students felt.

Following the cancellation of the event, Iqbal met with Hunter, Goldstein and former WJSA vice-president Erin Glatter to discuss their concerns.

“I think that the issue is not with the Muslim students presenting their particular point of view which members of our community may not necessarily agree with,” Hunter said. “I think ... the rather aggressive way that it was presented was problematic.”

Goldstein said she intends to have Iqbal and Hunter on her radio program to talk about what happened, and she's looking forward to more joint events by Muslim and Jewish students.

“So we've decided we are going to solve the Middle East crisis,” said Goldstein to laughter. “And we feel confident that we can do it.”


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Original link: http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=cec5b1ab-d73f-4ace-99dc-1f0355483274&k=65281

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