On September 9, 2002, violent pro-Palestinian
protesters at Montreal's Concordia University stormed a university
building and forced the cancellation of a speech by former Israeli prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Concordia is the hottest school in Canada in
terms of the Palestinian presence, activism and intimidation.
(Incidentally, note the misleading headline from the
Associated Press: "Canada Cops, Israel Protesters Clash." Makes it sound
like the pro-Israel camp did the protesting...)
On Sept. 11, 2002, the Concordia Student Union (CSU)
Council of Representatives met to discuss the riot. The CSU operates on
student fees which are supposed to go to enhancing student life on campus,
by creating student clubs, organizing events, etc.
The majority of those present at the Sept. 11 CSU
meeting were actual participants in the recent riot, and one member of the
CSU Executive was among those arrested.
At the meeting, the CSU passed a motion calling "on
the University and the Crown Attorney to drop all charges against those
arrested in connection with all matters relating to Sept. 9 through the
university's code of rights and responsibilities." In the event that the
legal process continues and the charges are not dropped, "the CSU shall
cover the legal fees of all those arrested from its legal costs budget
line." In other words, student fees will be used to defend the rioters --
including those who are not students at Concordia!
Complaints can be filed with Dr. Frederick H. Lowy,
Rector & Vice-Chancellor -
Frederick.Lowy@concordia.ca
Below we present two eyewitness accounts of the riot
at Concordia, followed by excerpts from the speech that Netanyahu planned
to say.
SARA AHRONHEIM:
EYEWITNESS
To enter the Concordia building we had to walk right
through a volatile protest of hundreds of pro-Palestinians and their
supporters in keffiyehs, with flags, screaming vitriolic hate. Once having
run this gauntlet, we waited patiently outside the Bishop street entrance,
held back at the gate by security and police. After about an hour they
started admitting us inside, but it was too late because a huge group of
pro-Palestinian 'demonstrators' had appeared in our midst.
I was fortunately right at the entrance, and as
dozens of violent protesters pushed their way to the front, I tried to get
through. Right next to me appeared the ringleader, who tried to push his
way in. The cop in front of me punched him in the face while pulling me
through the gate at the same time.
I rested against the wall and watched as at least a
hundred (I think) red-and-green colored protesters attacked the barriers
and tried to get in. Riot cops appeared, dozens of them, and went to the
gate as I and a few others were herded into the building. There was
yelling and chanting, drumming and fighting going on outside the doors,
with hundreds of our people stuck behind the gate being abused by hundreds
of violent demonstrators.
.gif) |
| Chaos
broke out and I thought we were going to get killed, I swear.
|
|
|
A few of us were waiting after the metal detectors
for our friends to come through, when all of a sudden we heard loud
chanting and yelling inside the building. The riot cops came storming in
and up the stairs beside us, and we began hearing fighting, crashing,
yelling, punching. Chaos broke out and riot cops made us run for the door
to the auditorium -- I thought we were going to get killed, I swear. It
was the scariest feeling, because I knew that these people wanted to hurt
me and anyone who supports Israel or is Jewish.
Once inside the auditorium, we were told to be
patient as more people would drift in from the insanity outside. We waited
inside for three hours, as the commotion outside grew increasingly loud.
We could hear chanting and yelling, and the protesters began trashing the
university building. The police tear gassed and pepper sprayed the entire
building and outside, and we began to feel the effects if we stood too
near the doors.
After hours of waiting, and bomb searches by RCMP
sniffer dogs, we were informed that Bibi Netanyahu could not speak after
all -- too much danger to him and to us. This was an incredible
disappointment and we were naturally upset. We however managed to maintain
a kind of composure and instead of fighting, the 650 of us inside began to
sing Hatikvah, the national anthem of the State of Israel. We sang peace
chants and then just waited to be let out, in groups of 10, escorted by
police.
|
| They
tossed coins at us -- one of the oldest ways to taunt Jews by saying
we're money-grubbing. |
|
|
The scene as we exited was disgusting. Benches were
overturned, papers and garbage streaked across the hallways, and broken
windows. We were shoved outside directly into a huge pro-Palestinian riot,
where some of our people were apparently attacked... On their side, they
threw bottles at people's heads, screamed hatred, and tried to break the
barriers down to hurt us. They started tossing pennies and coins at us --
one of the oldest ways to taunt Jews by saying we're all "money-grubbing."
While we sang Hatikvah arm in arm, they spat at us. Finally we decided to
disperse and leave them to their hatred...
Today Montreal Jews were made to feel afraid for our
lives, and today Jewish students were threatened in our own home. If we
cannot express ourselves here in Canada, champion of free speech and human
rights, where on earth can we do so? If we cannot feel safe in our own
cities where we have grown up and thrived, where are we to go?
...Today I saw raw hatred, and it cut me to the core.
I have never feared for my life as I did today. I have never feared for
our free society the way do today. I wish beyond anything that we can one
day fix the agonizing rifts between our peoples, and erase the hate from
our and their hearts alike.
ESTHER SCHWARTZ:
EYEWITNESS
It's about a 15-minute walk to Concordia from my
apartment. So I leave at 10:30, with an Israeli flag folded up in my bag.
When I get about 3 blocks away, I see the police have blocked off all the
streets around the area and there is a huge Palestinian rally with flags
and loudspeakers and tons and tons of hate. So I'm standing there feeling
totally alone and I whip out my flag and put in on my back. A bunch of
different guys come up to me to scream and argue and talk about the
occupation and the war criminals blah blah blah...
The end result is that Bibi's speech was cancelled.
The pro-Palestinian presence and voice had changed the course of events
pre-planned by us. That's how much of a difference they make. And all we
wanted to do, us, little defenseless Jews, all we wanted to do was listen
to the former PM speak...
|
| I
wondered how long it's going to be until the world realizes that
anti-Semitism is not a trend that comes in and out like fashion.
|
|
|
All that was left to do was sing. So we sang Hatikva
and every reporter asked for a translation. And we sang Am Israel Chai and
all the security guards were feeling our message. But as I looked around
and realized that I was stuck in a room because the enemy was outside
trying to hurt and destroy us, I wondered how different I was than my
grandmother in Poland pre 1939. And I wondered how long it's going to be
until the world realizes that anti-Semitism is not a trend that comes in
and out like fashion. It is a fact of each Jews' life...
It was such a scary day, but it was an amazing
reminder of what is really going on in the world. Israel has no friends in
this world... The one and only thing we have is each other. It has never
been more important to love our neighbors like ourselves.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: EXCERPTS OF
UNDELIVERED SPEECH
I have come here to voice what I believe is an
urgently needed reminder: that the war on terror can be won with clarity
and courage or lost with confusion and vacillation.
Israel has not experienced a terrorist attack like
the one the world witnessed on that horrific day last September. That
unprecedented act of barbarism will never be forgotten. But, in the past
two years, Israel's six million citizens have buried more than 600 victims
of terror -- a per capita toll equivalent to more than half a dozen
September 11ths. This daily, hourly carnage is also unprecedented in
terrorism's bloody history.
Instead of praising Israel for seeking to minimize
civilian casualties through careful and deliberate action, most of the
world's governments shamelessly condemn it.
|
| What has
destabilized the region is the constant pressure exerted on Israel
to show restraint. |
|
|
But contrary to conventional wisdom, what has
destabilized the region is not Israeli action against Palestinian terror,
but rather the constant pressure exerted on Israel to show restraint.
It is precisely the exceptional restraint shown by
Israel that has unwittingly emboldened its enemies and inadvertently
increased the threat of a wider conflict.
Twenty-one years ago, prime minister Menachem Begin
sent the Israeli air force on a predawn raid hundreds of miles away on one
of the most dangerous military missions in our nation's history. When our
pilots returned, we had successfully destroyed Saddam's atomic bomb
factory and crippled his capacity to build nuclear weapons. Israel was
safer -- and so was the world. But rather than thanking us for
safeguarding freedom, the entire world condemned us.
Ten years later, when American troops expelled Iraqi
forces in the gulf war, then secretary of defense Richard Cheney expressed
a debt of gratitude to Israel for the bold and determined action a decade
earlier that had made victory possible.
We simply can no longer afford to allow this region
to remain cloistered by a fanatic militancy. We must let the winds of
freedom and independence finally penetrate the one region in the world
that clings to unreformed tyranny.