Heated exchanges during a talk given by controversial editor Abdel Bari Atwan on Monday night resulted in students walking out.
The talk, which was organised by the LSE Students’ Union’s Palestine Society, had originally been scheduled for last Friday, but was moved to its new date following criticism from the Students’ Union’s Israel Society.
Entitled “How much influence does the Zionist Lobby exert on US/UK foreign policy?”, Atwan, Editor-in Chief of Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, gave a talk which was chaired by Professor Martha Mundy of the Anthropology department, in response to the question posed, and an intense question-and-answer session followed.
As students were given priority for entry into the talk, a second session was to be held straight after; however, due to a potential criminal complaint against the first session, it was immediately cancelled.
Despite attempts by the Israel Society to prevent the event from going ahead last week, Atwan began by thanking those who had allowed him to speak at the LSE. He then spoke at length about the relationship between the United States and Israel, saying, “there’s no common interest” and “despite that, America’s doing everything to keep Israel strong, to keep Israel atrocities, to keep Israel policies.” He argued that although Israel might claim to feel “threatened by its neighbour, so it has to be protected”.
He then said: “I have to admit that not every Jew supports Israel…some of them actually oppose the policies. I am not going to generalise here.” This was raised later in the session, when a student asked him to explain what he meant. He responded: “I am not generalising when I say that you bomb Gaza. We are very passionate. We mean the Israeli – I didn’t mean you bombed Gaza.”
Focusing on the topic of his talk, Atwan stated: “Zionist Lobby is the second strongest lobby in the country, exerting pressure on members of the Congress and their members. Best democracy in the world and also to create all the myths of Israel existence; all the myths created by the Lobby. To silence critics is their main objective.”
“Honestly I believe you can say anything you like, you can have a platform, you cannot do the same in United States… [they] reward anyone who supports Israel, and destroy the critics, by supporting their opponents….Once you control the media, you can control foreign policy,” he continued.
Using the example of the New York Times, where a former Executive Chief admitted his friendship to Israeli officials had influenced his editorials, Atwan then went on to claim that it is a “sin…to silence me” and that “when I can communicate to Western audience, in a very neutral way, scientific way, what’s wrong with that?” Furthermore, he defended himself against those who oppose his appearances on British television, as unlike others who have committed massacres who have been allowed to appear, “I haven’t killed anyone, and I haven’t even killed a chicken in my life.”
He asserted that there has been a “huge movement to silence people on university campuses” and that groups have been set up to invite Israeli speakers to speak on campus, “to think we are the most wicked people on earth”.
Atwan then began an attack on British politicians, in particular the Foreign Secretary, William Hague. Atwan believed Hague to have joined Conservative Friends of Israel when he was 16, where he “promised that he would amend laws in Britain so that Israeli war criminals could give talks here.”
“Thank you very much, I love you all. Thank you,” Atwan ended his speech.
When questioned about what he believed could be done to bring about a unitary force as a solution, he replied: “They want to control everything…they are working on a one state solution in order to make it completely irrelevant….How can I be a racist when I am calling for a one state solution? … Two state solution is not viable. What amazes me is this country and the US – multi-ethnic – supporting a racist state in Palestine. Is this democracy? Is this the American dream to support a racist state? Is this a democracy they are talking about? They should be ashamed of themselves!”
Israel Society President Gabi Kobrin then brought up the allegation that Atwan had previously declared that he would “go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight” if Iran were to launch a missile attack on Israel, and asked firstly why he denied saying it and whether he would denounce his view.
“I am actually a very good dancer. It was a smear campaign against me. Who bombed Gaza? I bombed it? Who killed thousands of people? Who invaded Lebanon? Was it me? That’s the problem. They should be ashamed of themselves to silence someone, who’s homeless for years. That’s the problem, that’s the real question. Point your fingers to those massacring us,” Atwan responded.
However, students were not satisfied with his answer, to which he said: “I answered your question. You are bombing my country. I am a peaceful person. We are not going to be intimidated or terrorised.”
Atwan also refused to condemn Hamas, saying that as it is not them who are occupying, “Would you want me to condemn those who are resisting the occupation? Is this the objective? Did Hamas commit war crimes like Goldstone report reported clearly?”
He was asked about political correctness with regard to Zionists and Arabs, to which he said: “That’s the problem, imagine that – Israelis can kill Arabs. They can kill everybody. They can dance even…because their war heads are killing people in Gaza…Imagine that, they are accusing me of being a racist. I am not allowed to complain. They are actually bombing my people, if I defend them, I am a criminal.”
“We are not allowed to scream. You are doing all these evils to us; we are not allowed to scream. And they wanted to silence me. This is the dilemma we are facing. And unfortunately they are supported by Western governments, that’s democracy. When it comes to Israel, there’s no democracy. As long as people are killed, as long as children are dismembered. How can you have sympathy for a country who imposes a blockade on Gaza?” he continued.
Students’ Union Anti-Racism Officer Ben Grabiner read out a Students’ Union motion on anti-Semitism which was passed in March 2009, stating that since Atwan had pointed to Jewish students and claimed they bombed Gaza, along with Atwan’s interchanging of Jewish and Zionist lobbies, “If you are not racist – why have you done all these things that our SU has classified as anti-Semitic?”
Atwan replied: “I didn’t say ‘you’ – I didn’t ask his religion. Your accusation is wrong. This is intimidation. I didn’t mean you; I had the courage to correct myself. Have you the courage to correct your question? That’s the problem.”
At this point, a female audience member who was not a student stood up and began shouting at Grabiner. Others also began jeering at Kobrin and Grabiner, resulting in Kobrin leaving the talk, followed by other students. Although the talk ended a few minutes after, the crowd did not disperse.
The Students’ Union has released the following statement regarding the event: “We regret that the event ended in the way that it did. Prior to the event, the Students’ Union engaged in extensive consultation and negotiation with the Palestine Society, Israel Society and the School. We intend to review the video capture of the event and examine the content. In order to mitigate future issues, we will be giving careful consideration to our procedures. We will be writing up a policy that outlines clearer guidelines on how to deal with controversial speaker events in the future so that they can go ahead without unexpected consequences. If students would like to register their concerns about the event, please email Hero Austin at su.communitywelfare@lse.ac.uk.”
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