Five Arab students were turned away from a speech at Hillel Friday because Hillel Director Simon Amiel said he thought their comments would “create a ruckus.”

The students said one Palestinian man, who has a pale complexion, entered Hillel and was told the speakers – three Israeli Defense Force soldiers – were delayed.

He returned to the front of the building, where four other Arab students joined him.

Senior Rida Barakat said when the group of students tried to enter the building, the doors were locked and the desk employee would not let them in. Amiel then told the students while they would be welcome any other time, their comments were not welcome during Shabbat, the weekly Jewish sabbath.

Amiel said he heard a rumor of a pro-Palestinian protest at Hillel that morning and had earlier requested University Police Department presence. He said recent violence at other campuses concerned him. According to the students, he also said he “wasn’t sure if the others inside are as mature” as the group was.

Amiel said four of the five students were “incredibly understanding.”
“If there were 10 Jewish students outside who wanted to come in and create a ruckus, I would not have let them in,” he said. The students said they had no intention to cause a disturbance.

The scene outside Hillel Friday comes three days after a few of the students who were turned away attended another Hillel lecture, by Israeli Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh April 9. One of the students, graduate student Hussam Mustafa, asked questions of the speaker that event organizers called respectful.

The Arab students said Amiel identified them because they were speaking Arabic and because Mustafa, who identifies himself as Saudi with Palestinian origins, was wearing a Palestinian head scarf.

“I cannot take (the scarf) off so I can be there,” Mustafa said. “I can’t leave my identity at the door.”

Barakat also said if the situation was reversed, and Muslim students requested Jewish students leave their event, “the accusation of anti-Semitism would be all over campus.”

Three of the students – Barakat, Mustafa and graduate student Suboh Suboh – said they attend many Middle Eastern-related lectures on campus and had seen flyers for the event.

Amiel said while Hillel events are generally open to all students he was concerned “their questions would be ones that would create tension and uneasiness” and that Shabbat is not a day for uneasiness.

Barakat disagreed.

“If you think just by being ignorant you can stay friends, there’s something wrong,” he said. “That’s why people are killing each other all over the place, because they can’t talk to the other side.”