BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- Pro-Palestinian students at the University of Maryland protested a panel discussion on 'dialogue across political differences,' accusing speakers of promoting anti-Palestinian rhetoric and justifying occupation and genocide.
- Speakers included CNN's Van Jones and Professor Ilana Redstone, who were criticized for minimizing sympathy for Palestinians and for past actions related to criticism of Israel.
- Students from UMD's Students for Justice in Palestine and Palestinian Cultural Club claimed there is no valid 'both sides' discussion regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict, reiterating that Israel is committing genocide.
Pro-Palestinian students at the University of Maryland objected to an April 21 panel centered on “the importance of dialogue across political differences.”
The Diamondback reports the Israel-Palestinian conflict was referenced throughout the “Working Across the Divide” event, which included CNN’s Van Jones and University of Illinois Professor Ilana Redstone.
Members of the UMD Students for Justice in Palestine and Palestinian Cultural Club complained that the speakers were “promoting anti-Palestinian rhetoric” and alleged they had built their careers on “normalizing occupation, genocide, and apartheid.”
On their Instagram pages, the groups asserted there are no “both sides” discussions when it comes Israel-Palestine as “only one side [Israel] is committing genocide.”
CNN’s Jones was accused of “systematically minimizing sympathy for Palestinians,” while Professor Redstone was called out for favoring the termination of Professor Steven Salaita, whom they claim was fired merely for “criticizing Israel’s 2014 bombardment of Gaza.”
A member of the UMD SJP told The Diamondback the event’s speakers “all had ‘Zionist perspectives and have repeatedly justified the apartheid occupation’ of Palestine by Israeli forces.” The student paper cited United Nations and Associated Press figures of Gazan deaths at Israel’s hands since the beginning of the war.
A UMD student studying religions of the ancient Middle East reiterated the SJP’s and PCC’s social media claims, saying “there is no middle ground on issues like this. … Don’t bring people who are defending the genocide as it’s happening, to campus.”
He added the panel was “an insult.”
A bioengineering student claimed the “imbalance” of the panel was indicative of “the disparity in treatment of different groups on campus.” (The University of Maryland does not appear to suffer a dearth of pro-Palestinian perspectives.)
“Working Across the Divide” panelist Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, whom the Diamondback calls a Palestinian “peace advocate” but was accused by the SJP and PCC of “promot[ing] Israeli propaganda,” blasted on X the “immensely unhelpful ‘pro-Palestine’ militias on campus” for harassing speakers like himself.
I explained that I refuse to be confined by the rigid, absolutist frameworks that dominate many activist spaces and often reduce complex realities to slogans and demands that are neither achievable nor constructive. …
But that was not enough for a group of students who confronted the other speakers and me after the event. They surrounded us, shouting insults and calling me a “traitor” and a “sellout” in a repetitive, almost performative way. They demanded to know how we could sleep at night and accused us of embodying shameful values, all claims rooted in hostility, oversimplification, and a belief that their worldview must be imposed on everyone else.
Alkhatib concluded his statement with “Say ‘no’ to anti-American, anti-human, Jihadi-inspired militias and thugs on university campuses.”
MORE: University of Maryland student gov’t passes Israel boycott during Jewish holiday
