11 students arrested after disrupting Israeli ambassador's speech at UC Irvine

Soon after Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren began his speech Monday night at UC Irvine, the first student rose.

“Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech,” the student in a gray hoodie yelled.

The remainder of his words were drowned out by an uproar of cheering and clapping from students sitting around him before he was led away by university police. It was the first of 10 interruptions throughout the speech, and by the end of the night, 11 UC Irvine and Riverside students were arrested and cited for disturbing a public event.

The students were held in a nearby room until Oren finished his speech and were then released, said university spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon.

They could face misdemeanor charges as well as university disciplinary hearings that could result in suspensions or dismissals, Lawhon said.

After the fourth disruption, Oren took a 20-minute break before he returned.

“I’ve spent most of my life living in and studying the Middle East and one of the great and eternal cultural facets of the Middle East is hospitality...even if you do not agree with them, even if they’re ostensibly your enemy,” Oren remarked, before continuing his speech. “I’m your guest here and I’m asking for the Middle Eastern hospitality for your guest, I’ve come into your house.”

The speech about U.S.-Israeli relations was organized by several organizations and campus departments “to address tough issues in an open kind of way,” said Shalom Elcott, president and chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Orange County.

Before the speech, Elcott said his group was aware of an orchestrated campaign in which he said students were assigned a position and statement to read in order to disrupt the ambassador’s speech. The group notified campus police.

Elcott and others blamed the university’s Muslim Student Union for the disruptions. A statement posted on that group’s website Monday condemned the university for inviting a man who “took part in a culture that has no qualms with terrorizing the innocent, killing civilians, demolishing their homes and illegally occupying their land.”

The union, however, denied responsibility for the protests.

“It was not put on by the MSU, but rather by students acting on their own,” said Hadeer Soliman, union spokeswoman. Only one of the students arrested could be reached, and he declined to comment.

During the speech, both the UC Irvine chancellor and the political science department chair chided the protesting crowd and called the disruptions embarrassing.

“Shame on you,” Chairman Mark Petracca yelled at one point.

But despite the constant interruptions, there was also a strange routine to the disturbances.

A student would stand up and yell his statement followed by both cheers and jeers from the crowd. Then, as if on cue, he would make his way to the aisle where waiting police officers led him out of the room.

“They were very cooperative, they rose, they spoke and they began to leave their seats,” Lawhon said. “Because they had been told what would happen if they did this.”

-- Raja Abdulrahim

Comments

[Joe]

@ABG
Zionism hasn't been around since the Ottoman empire.

It was established by the Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century.
And there are some Jewish communities (in particular orthodox groups) that are opposing zionism.

So, as usual with these issues, it is not black and white...

[Anonymous]

The 11 students who have been arrested should be immediately released with the apologies of the University Police. The students actions were rude - I agree, but it was nothing more than FREE SPEECH. Everyone has the right to free speech. How are they going to arrest college students exercising freedom speech. UCI police & faculty should be ashamed of themselves. Haven't we been taught to speak our minds and opinions since pre-school?

[syscom3]

I think politically correct people are more dangerous than a suicide bomber. Reminds me of the brown shirts in Germany and Italy, shouting down their opponents.

[syscom3]

Spewie McDermott, you think cluster munitions have been banned? Perhaps you should do some more research on the subject matter.

[yah]

"....as nothing more than FREE SPEECH..."

Ah in some ways yes, but not the way they were doing it. The idiot students were SUPPRESSING free speech, which in itself was foolish to do. You should be ashamed for taking the side of disruptors, agitators, thugs, ignorant and stubborn kids that will only see with tunnel vision and nothing else.

[Kevin]

The cops should have arrested Oren for helping Israel take their tax dollars, over 10 million/dollars a day of our taxes goes to Israel! With the increase in tuition I would be pissed as well. Good Job students, don't let this murderer speak one word of his bull!

[ABG]

Joe: The Ottoman Empire officially came to an end in 1922. That is in the 20th century, which places it after the 19th century, which is when we both agree that Zionism began. So, back to my point, Zionism was established during the Ottoman Empire, which predates the establishment of such countries as Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and all the African nations.

[ABG]

Hey LA Times: You've got a problem. See, when people post on your website about their distaste for Zionism and Israel, they mostly come up with a bunch of lies as their reasons for their personal opinion that the former is racism, and the latter should cease to exist. I'm not real sure what your moderators are doing here, but they're definitely not fact checking. Surely, less than 5 minutes would have told you that Joe #51 had no idea what he was talking about, and that his post wasn't relevant to the discussion involving Michael Oren being shouted down by students associated with the Muslim Student Union on the UC Irvine campus.

But, hey, that's entertainment.... right? 1 billion Muslims telling the rest of the world that the Jews are organ thieving land stealers because they have the chutzpah to live in the Middle East as a democratic state.... Hold on, now. Don't post this. It's accurate and pro-Israel. Which are 2 things that don't belong in your blogs.

[ethics101]

I am appalled that so many posters here have so little knowledge about the Bill of Rights or Constitution. Freedom of Speech does not give one person the right to prevent another from speaking. It is exactly the opposite. Most of those who were protesting would have benefited from listening to another side of the issue and then asking questions. That is what college is supposed to be about. Instead they expressed a viewpoint based on ignorance and a total lack of historical knowledge of the situation in the Middle East. Remember that those who now call themselves Palestinians have been evicted from two (maybe more) Arab nations. They tried to assasinate the King of Jordan and in 1990 he expelled the PLO. Egypt has fought against giving them free access to its country and their leaders have stolen billion of dollars intended to help their people. I think Israel is the least of their problems.

[davidozone]

Obamas cabinet has 8 out of 12 members jewish,quite unproportional numbers for a race that is only 2 percent of our U.S. population.Now wonders Ariel Sharon is on record as stating to other Israeli cabinet members "Don't worry about the U.S. we control them".Their next goal is to make it official,mark my words.

[Terrance McCorey]

Zionism and its apartheid philosophy is reprehensible and its spokesman should be protested loudly. What I find alarming is that these pro-zionist/marxists types are willing to trample on our bill of rights just to protect their Israel. We should call out these guys as traitors and Israel-firsters.

[Jay]

This is a typical demonstration of the Arab Nazi Group that tries hard to bring more 9/11 type tragedies to the USA.

[Verballistic]

Response to "nik":

You make some excellent points about UC Irvine being one of the most anti-Semitic campuses in the country and the UCI chapter of the Muslim Student Union regularly features who boldly advocate the DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL. So it is not surprising that they would protest anything to do with Israel, since the MSU is in favor of Israel's destruction themselves.

The only thing that surprises me is that there were only 11 of them that were willing to be arrested this time around.

[John]

Liberals are all for free speech as long as it supports what they believe. If you oppose them, this is how they react. Typical.

[M7L]

I agree with JGBr & JTHC.

What these students did was plain out rude. They gain nothing by acting the way they did. People say, "freedom of speech"...but protesting/picketing outside would have been a better form of freedom of speech than disrupting Oren. It's not like after they disrupted Oren, he left and didn't finish his speech. Instead, he brings up the point of hospitality, which makes sense. We, as college educated Americans, should know better than to act ignorant and childish to an ambassador, regardless if we agree with them or not.

At the least, it was non-violent and the students were cooperative with the police. Although I do not agree with their chosen tactic of free speech, I do not believe their actions are means for arrest or suspension/expulsion from school. That's just extreme.

[SDC In the place]

I was going to say something about while the students' behavior was shamefully reminiscent of that of the thugs who disrupted healthcare townhalls this past summer, they do have valid points.

Then I read you people's comments. Can I write a check to Gov. Schwarzenneger to improve California's schools? Geeeeezzzz. I've seen more thoughtful commentary on a youTube cute cat video.

[M7L]

I agree with JGBr & JTHC.

What these students did was plain out rude. They gain nothing by acting the way they did. People say, "freedom of speech"...but protesting/picketing outside would have been a better form of freedom of speech than disrupting Oren. It's not like after they disrupted Oren, he left and didn't finish his speech. Instead, he brings up the point of hospitality, which makes sense. We, as college educated Americans, should know better than to act like ignorant childish fools to an ambassador, regardless if we agree with them or not.

At the least, the students were cooperative with the police. Although I do not agree with their chosen tactic of free speech, I do not believe their actions are means for arrest or suspension/expulsion from school. That's just extreme.

[nobe]

to all the jewish commenters. i can appreciate the effort of making israel the victim here. after all, it is the land of your people, well atleast thats what the bible says, one of your books. am a catholic, i am not too in touch with it, but i believe in god. my beef here with you guys are with the comments of suicide bombers. many of you believe that they do this for there religion or there organization. have any of you ever really thought what would make a man do this and i mean a man an individual, not a group. when a man life is torn away through war and violence and is left with nothing, you become very vunerable to suggestion. only a man with a torn heart and a hatred for those who hurt him, you can be sure he will do something insane. i do not condoned this type of action. unfortunatly israel is the cause of all of it. before israel was forced upon the middle east in 1948. jews, muslims and christians lived together in peace. it was a holy land to all of them, but now it has been tainted in blood and violence. the killing has not stopped and will not stop. children, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers will die on both sides and for what to show to the world that no one will ever kick around a jew. i say its not worth it cause you proved your point, but this wont end well.

[gary fouse]

I was there, and it was a disgrace. However, no one should be surprised. As an adjunct teacher at UCI, I have been watching the MSU events for years and reporting on them. In spite of complaints by Jewish students who have been harassed and intimidated on campus, UCI ignores the problem and insists it's all free speech and the bad reputation UCI has received is due to "outside agitators." I am no outsider. I have taught at UCI part-time for 11 years.

The good news is that now the local community saw with their own eyes that there IS a problem at UCI. No one can deny it now.

Gary Fouse
Adj teacher
UCI-Ext

[Nadeem]

HAHAHAHA Mark you sound like one hell of an idiot. I do agree with parts of your argument but you just seem like you don't belong on earth as a human being hahahaha no one goes around calling other people terrorists. Because, my friend, that just causes trouble. Are you a troublemaker? You sound like one. Leave the United States because we don't tolerate stupidity.

Anyway back to the real problem...coming from a Muslim, these kids really acted out of their rights. Freedom of speech is understandable but this was just rude and it's kids like these that cause idiots running around the country like Mark to call all Muslims terrorists. It's kids like these that make us look bad. If you want to cry and moan about what's going on in the world, don't do it in a fashion that makes you look bad. These kids are pretty stupid but the guy below me is even stupider. I'm going to go finish my education now. Good luck to all you lost souls.

[Josh]

It is a real shame that events such as these occur because it is the perfect situation for sane minded individuals on both sides to come together and discuss extremely pertinent issues. What is even more shocking is the inundation and skewed views posted among the comments of this article. I mean seriously, you cant be critical of protesters if you make statements such as, "I guarantee you, one of these student protesters will strap on a suicide vest before long...posted by Mark- Feb 9 7:44pm. Here is an example of someone, most probably pro Israel, saying something completely outrageous and absent any fact in effort only to further this so called media driven fear tactic that any protester, especially "Arab minded" ones are terrorists. Likewise on the other end of the crazy train we it was said that, "americans should protest the BILLIONS of dollars that the us government, NOT TAXPAYERS, are giving each year to israel. they use it to murder palestinian women children and old men". Here we most likely have, the Pro Palestinian side once again coming to these baseless/general and completely untrue assertions primarily on the grounds to illicit the image that all Israeli's are a bunch of women and baby killers....posted by ference Feb 9. I mean thats as ridiculous as saying all arabs want to blow up buses so they can enjoy their 72 virgins. Both sides of the debate seem to encourage this rampant speculation train which preaches extremist views and as I am sure most would agree a never ending cycle leading to unnecessary causalities on both sides.

It is so important that people choose to not resort to absent accusations of one another or else we will regrettably not get anywhere in these talks. Coming from a liberal minded Jewish law student who is critical of Israel's policies I do understand somewhat the concerns of those against the Michael Oren speech yet I can't begin to describe my shock at how college students used Allah to excuse their behavior, you are shaming youre religion by this behavior. Furthermore, these individuals behavior serve as a completely regressive movement if their goal is to see peace for the Palestinian people. I urge those individuals as well as those who stand against those individuals to stop this assault on one another because neither parties goals are going to be accomplished by this behavior.

[ABG]

Poor Terry, having to live in a world full of Jews. What is a sad racist like him supposed to do? He's so stupid that even he knows he's a work accident waiting to happen.

So Terry stays home on his computer wearing nothing but boxers and doing all that he can to make his rhetoric sound intelligent. And still he comes off as a loser.

Of course, I'm a Jew... and a Zionist... which I guess together makes me a Marxist. An Israel-firster. Which means what, Terry? What are you going to do about it? Shout at people all day?

I guess the LA Times moderator was in the can.

[Sid]

TO the poster below-
"Please get these Arab terrorists out of our country and fast! Terrorists!"

Please get a real education. Not all Arabs are muslims and not all muslims are Arabs.

Timothy Mcveigh was a White Christian, American born terrorist, how do you expect to ideantify his type of people?

Sadly America is filled with ignorant, uneducated public that fear anything and everything!

[Cobalt-Blue]

It's what I've come to expect out of Muslims and leftists. The can't meet people in the arena of ideas, so they try to shout down people with whom they agree. They are morally and intellectually bankrupt. Israel is not the one taking hostages, blowing up children, violating treaties. It's the Muslims. Muslims attacked Israel first and have continued to do it since the State was first reformed by the UN. Muslims have been offered everything they want except for the destruction of Israel and they still turn their back on peace. It's not the Israelis who are at fault here: It is the followers of that pedophile warmongering prophet.

Every where there are Muslims, there is conflict and strife. The religion is not a fit religion for civilization or free men, and these protesters have proven that once again.

[Conservadad]

The free speech rights of one party end when they try to shout down the free speech of another. So we in the US don't care about all of your past disagreements. You are in the US and must obey US law. It makes not one whit of difference to us who did what to whom when & where over in your countries...OUR 1st Amendment does NOT say that you have free speech conditioned upon whether listeners agree with you. You stupid students have a right to express your opinions, ya just can't do it by shouting down others. If ya don't like it, VAMOOSE!