3 students arrested in Gaza protest
By Allison Bush (Last updated: 01/26/09 12:00am)When three college students gathered Thursday outside the office of Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., they were hoping to speak with Levin about his support of Israel. Instead, they were arrested.
The arrested students — MSU anthropology junior Ahlam Mohsen and Ferris State University students Max Kantar and Patrick Daly — were part of a group of five who organized a sit-in at Levin’s office. They arrived around noon and refused to leave until they spoke with Levin and he met their demands, Mohsen said.
The group’s demands included taking steps toward cutting off military, economic and diplomatic support for Israel and calling for an international investigation of Israeli war crimes.
The students were asked to leave by staff, security and police when the building closed at 5:30 p.m., but they refused and were taken away in handcuffs around 6 p.m., Mohsen said.
“The reason we didn’t take them up on their offer was we maintained our simple stance the whole time; we weren’t going to leave until we spoke with Levin,” said Kantar, an international studies and sociology junior. “If we had left voluntarily, it would have made our goal less serious.”
The students were protesting Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, which was in response to Hamas, the Palestinian authority in Gaza, firing rockets into Israel. Since the conflict was reignited, 1,285 Palestinians and 13 Israelis have been killed, according to The Associated Press.
The students were taken to Lansing’s city lockup. Mohsen and Kantar were bailed out that night, and Daly was bailed out the next morning, Kantar said.
Lansing police did not return phone calls seeking comment Sunday.
International relations sophomore Geoff Levin, an Israel advocacy intern for the Hillel Jewish Student Center, said it was the students’ right to protest, but he said he was surprised there was a protest against Israel.
“The majority of Americans would disapprove if the U.S. supported Hamas, which was considered a terrorist organization,” he said. “This is the difference between supporting a legitimate government and supporting a terrorist organization.”
Mohsen said the students had been trying to reach Sen. Levin by phone and e-mail for several weeks and received no response.
David Lyles, Levin’s chief of staff, released a statement saying Levin was unable to arrange a phone call “without prior notice with the people
who came to his Lansing office.”
“Sen. Levin appreciates the right of people to express their views on issues, and welcomes those views when he receives them,” Lyles said in a prepared statement.
“We’re still demanding that Levin speak with us,” Mohsen said. “They gave us the number to call to set up a time to speak with him … if that doesn’t follow through, we’ll come together to decide what further action to take.”
The students have a court date in early February for trespassing charges, Kantar said. The misdemeanor offense is punishable by up to 90 days in jail.
“I don’t think it will come down to that,” Kantar said.
Originally Published: 01/23/09 1:56pm
david
01/23/09 4:56pmAnd Marty, you used the wrong type of “it’s” when you repeated somebody’s observation.
Levin is Jewish, what would they expect his stance on Israel to be?
tom
01/23/09 6:03pmWhat were these idiots thinking? Levin is obviously Jewish – who’s he supposed to support?
Way to go, Ahlam Mohsen. You’re now in the system, and flagged as a trouble maker. Unfortunately with your name, you didn’t need the attention brought upon you.
john
01/24/09 11:05amOne of the protestors was Jewish as well. Just because Levin is Jewish doesn’t mean he has to support Israeli policy. Does every black congressmen have to unequivocally support every African government no matter how brutal they may be?
Does every Muslim support Saudi Arabia’s vicious fundamentalist government?
Who is Levin supposed to support? He is supposed to support US law, international law, and human rights—not a religious affiliation.
steve
01/24/09 10:55pmIran has a vicious fudamentalist government…but hey tomato,to-ma-to. There are better ways of protesting your government than getting arrested. Good luck finding a job with a record. I hope their parents are proud that they paid 10,000 dollars a semester for an education that is basically worthless now.
anonymous
01/25/09 4:58pmThe conservative trolls on this site are indefatigable…
“john” is the only writer so far who has commented within the bounds of reason; a 1/4 “successfully logical” rate is pretty abominable. That 10,000 dollars per semester, Steve, might be put to better use educating people who aren’t as cowed by fear of the unknown/different.
Anon
01/25/09 6:01pmIt’s actually pretty offensive to assume that all people of a specific ehtnicity and/or religion hold the same views on the topic. Many Jewish people oppose the war in Gaza, the tactics used by Isreal, et cetera.
Sparty
01/25/09 8:55pmSo… anyone else want to know why these folks decided to stage a sit in over the war in gaza AFTER the war was over and Israel had removed its troops?
I mean that really takes procrastination to an entirely new level when you put off your protest of a War until the war is over.
Where were you three weeks ago?
pie
01/26/09 12:38amAre the two levins related?
jeff
01/26/09 6:13pmIts funny how when israel slaughters women and children and shoots innocent civilians point blank in the head (if you would actually bother to read the news you would see stories about this every day) its considered defending themselves, but when hamas does anything at all it is considered terrorism. let us not forget that the conditions in Gaza have been likened to that of a concentration camp.
the way israel can get away with acts of terrorism and crimes against humanity without any question makes me sick.
bob
01/27/09 5:45pmyour talking about a war. some people might want to see others perspective before leaving a comment, because some of these comments are just ridicules
Scott Tauroqui
01/28/09 12:09amWow I am shocked at these posts, “Anyone supporting Israel should be shot, its that easy.” You guys are crazy. It’s one thing to have an opinion, another to call for violence. And what’s this offensive generalizing about Jews here in the other posts? You guys would probably be upset if I talked about a Muslims like that. I am disgusted.
My opinion is that Israel simply has its own war on terror, against the likes of people who say “Anyone supporting Israel should be shot, its that easy.” Why don’t you guys move somewhere else?
Saeed Askar
01/31/09 9:36amThe Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties formulated in Geneva, Switzerland, that set the standards for international law for humanitarian concerns. Israel violated the fourth Geneva Convention by killing innocent civilian people men, women and children, using white phosphorus weapons that are controversial today because of their potential use against civilians. Israel should be called for international investigation war crimes.