…during Palestine Solidarity Movement conference

by Bill Levinson

The Hoya (the student newspaper of Georgetown University, which is the home of the Al-Waleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding or whatever) reports that Bill Maniaci, a partially-disabled veteran who was allegedly assaulted by Georgetown University security personnel during last year’s Palestinian Solidarity Movement conference, has filed a lawsuit against the university.

The Hoya reports,

PSM Attendee Files $8 Million Suit
Complaint Alleges Assault Against DPS

By Max Sarinsky
Hoya Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006

An attendee at February’s Palestine Solidarity Movement conference filed suit against Georgetown on Wednesday, saying that he sustained injuries when Department of Public Safety officers removed him from an event.

Bill Maniaci, former deputy chairman of the Jewish Defense League, is suing for $8 million, stemming from charges of assault, false arrest and depriving his right to speech, as well as punitive damages. The suit names several Georgetown administrators as defendants, including David Morrell, vice president for university safety, and Todd Olson, vice president for student affairs.

Lee Kaplan’s article in Frontpage Magazine provides additional details about the alleged assault, which resulted in Mr. Maniaci’s hospitalization.

I was later to learn the gentleman was Bill Maniaci, 64, and a retired Nevada police officer. Maniaci, who is Jewish, had flown to Washington to protest what he felt was the constant misuse of US colleges by anti-American groups. According to witnesses inside, Maniaci had asked twice from the audience why the panel had still not answered his question about the Conference’s official position on suicide bombings when Student Affairs Administrator Todd Olson called out “Remove him!” Maniaci, who already needed a cane to walk was dragged from his seat, thrown on the floor, then literally thrown head first through wooden doors to where I and Eric Smulson were outside.