DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff David
Nolly argues with fourth-year geography student
Shelley Azizi in Meyerhoff Park Thursday on the
issue of Jewish and Muslim relations.
By Marcelle Richards
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Thursday’s teach-in by the Muslim Student Association
dissipated into a fury of voices after eyes met a swastika sign
equating Zionism with racism.
The Jewish Student Union gathered in Meyerhoff Park to stage a
counter-rally to the MSA’s teach-in against “Zionist
oppression,” titled “The Struggle for Human
Rights.”
JSU held its own signs, including a banner that read,
“Israel wants Peace: But we have no partner.”
What began as a peaceful congregation bordered on outrage when
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, director of UCLA Hillel, took the
swastika sign from a participant and tore it apart as he walked
away.
“The Arabs had signs, the pro-Israel group had signs: it
was a peaceful thing,” said Lindsay Stricke, a third-year
psychology student and Jewish Student Union member. “Then one
guy had a swastika sign, and that brought up a lot of pain and
emotions. The swastika instigated anger.”
Though JSU said the student was an MSA member because of his
green armband, an article worn by many MSA members to symbolize
unity, MSA members said the sign holder was not affiliated.
“We don’t know who brought that, we don’t
agree with that sign, but at the same time the rabbi has no right
to tear up the sign,” said Mohammed Jukaku, a second-year
computer science student and MSA member. “There’s also
the freedom of speech issue.”
Seidler-Feller could not be reached for comment.
When the commotion flared up, MSA marched up Bruin Walk to
commemorate victims of Israeli bombings.
“The majority of the people who stayed were Israeli
Jews,” said MSA President Ghaith Mahmood, a third-year
business economics and international development studies student.
“We were worried people would think it was JSU and MSA. Once
we saw there was confrontation, we left the area.”
The crowd grew larger as voices grew louder. The attention
shifted to Amir Liba, a graduate student in biochemistry, and David
Nolly, a theater student.
“Build yourself a country!” Liba yelled.
Nolly, of Jewish decent, refused to endorse either side.
“There are sides of truth on both sides ““ we can
both twist the truth,” Nolly said as he attempted to speak
above the crowd’s clamor. “Right here in Los Angeles,
we can start peace. I’m not going to take a side. I’m
not going to fight.”
JSU members criticized Yasser Arafat, president of Palestinian
National Authority, as a few straggling MSA members said peace must
come from both sides.
As the number of participants in the yelling match increased,
pro-Israel members continued to question why the swastika was
allowed.
“What was happening today was just rhetoric by anti-Israel
groups,” said JSU member and Bruin Pac chair Maya Zutler, a
fourth-year sociology student. “As a Jew and as an American
(I find the swastika) represents racism and the murder of 6 million
Jews. It’s uncalled for to bring it here.”
Al Tsarovsky, president of JSU, said he wishes people would be
careful with the image.
“To see it manipulated like that … it’s
cruel,” he said, adding that many on campus, including
Seidler-Feller, had family go through the Holocaust.
UCPD officers were called to the scene but stood their ground on
the outskirts of the conflict.
The group was dispersed by onlooking faculty; a few students
left in tears, others red from yelling.
Emotions and accusations aside, the teach-in that set the
premise for the progression of tensions sharply contrasted the
day’s culmination.
MSA gathered in Meyerhoff Park to hold a sit-in on what they say
is oppression caused by the Zionist movement. The human rights of
Palestinians remained the focus as JSU posed the opposing side in a
counter-rally.
According to Justin Levi, vice president of JSU, the United
Nations has passed many proposals in which Israel would agree to a
cease-fire, all of which the Palestinian state rejected.
This shows a desire to prolong the conflict that Palestinians
fail to see as two-sided, he said.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of this, and it’s
a constant theme in the anti-Israel movement,” said Oren
Lazar, a third-year UC Berkeley political science student and
member of the Israeli Action Committee. “Their denial of
historical fact is offensive. As Americans, we have a vested
interest in protecting the only country in the Middle East where
every religion and race can exist peacefully.”
Sporting green armbands, supporters of the Palestinian struggle
held up signs deploring Israeli violence toward Palestinians,
listing U.N. citations against the Israeli government.
Speaker Bilal Khan said Palestinians have been under 53 years of
Israeli oppression, during which barriers have been set up against
Palestinian education and employment.
Zutler said the actions have been reciprocated. The teach-in was
an example of propaganda that was damaging to JSU’s tabling
on Bruin Walk, she said.
“The fact remains that Israel wants peace,” she
said. “We’re out here trying to educate the UCLA
community.”
Despite Thursday’s feud, the groups do not anticipate any
future animosity.
“They have their opinions and we have ours,” said
Mostafa Mehboob, a third-year history student. “They have a
right to express themselves, and it shouldn’t carry over to
personal feelings.”
With reports from Kevin Lee, Daily Bruin Contributor.