Aletho News

Brandeis University Students Protest Visit by Israeli Parliamentarians

Tania Kepler for the Alternative Information Center (AIC) – 05 April 2011

Members of Brandeis University’s Students for Justice in Palestine (BSJP) disrupted a university panel discussion of six visiting members of the Israeli Knesset, Monday evening (4 April), to alert the student community to the presence of a war criminal on campus.
The action at the predominantly Jewish university targeted MK Avi Dichter, a suspected international war criminal wanted for possible crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Convention.

In addition to ordering the torture of Palestinians during his tenure as the head of Israel’s General Security Services, Dichter has been charged with possible war crimes for his part in the 2002 killing of Hamas member Salah Shehade and 14 other Palestinian civilians, including 9 children, who were in his Gaza Strip apartment building when a one-ton Israeli bomb was dropped on it.

As Dicther was speaking at Brandeis, a dozen Brandeis students listed charges against Dichter, including torture and the bombing of civilians, distributed warrants for his arrest, and demanded he turn himself in to authorities.

They ended their disruption by chanting in Hebrew “Don’t worry Avi Dicther, we’ll meet you in the Hague.”

“We believe that Avi Dichter must be put to trial for his crimes against humanity,” said participant Liza Behrendt.

Participant ParaskaTolan stated, “War criminals have a right to speak on our campus, but students also have the right to hold them publicly accountable for their crimes. This serves as a message that Dichter should not feel welcome, even at Brandeis University.”

In November 2010 Dichter canceled a trip to Spain due to fear he would be detained or arrested by Spanish authorities for his involvement in alleged war crimes against Palestinians.

Madrid officials told Dichter that Spain did not intend to offer him immunity from arrest or interrogation, after which he canceled his participation in the event.

The former GSS chief has been charged in the Spanish state with possible war crimes for his part in the 2002 killings in Gaza.There are additional charges pending in Spanish court against Dichter for his possible role in the Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip in December 2008-January 2009 (Operation Cast Lead), at which time he was Israel’s minister of internal security.

Lisa Hanania, a Palestinian student at Brandeis and member of SJP, said Monday that she was extremely disturbed by the racist comments from some of the MKs. “MK TzipiHotovely claimed that ‘Arabs have a different D.N.A. that lacks humanity.’ As a citizen of Israel, I am deeply concerned that claims as such pave the way for the state to slide into an openly racist ethnocracy.”

The students emphasize that, although they targeted Dichter specifically, all Israeli MKs should be held accountable for recent racist legislation such as the”Loyalty Oath,” the criminalization of Nakba commemoration and the institutionalization of residential discrimination.

April 5, 2011 - Posted by aletho | Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes