Thread: CA:Muslim Group Wants Investigation Into Students' Arrests

Two articles and Video

Muslim Group Wants Investigation Into Students Arrests at Speech

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

IRVINE, Calif. — A prominent Muslim group is calling on UC Irvine to investigate the arrests of 11 students during a raucous lecture where Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren spoke about U.S.-Israel relations earlier this week.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council sent a letter Wednesday to UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake saying it is unclear what laws the students broke.

The group says schools should not discourage students from expressing their First Amendment rights.

Oren's speech was interrupted by shouting and protests multiple times Monday night.

Eleven students were cited for disturbing a public event and released.

Earlier, the UCI Muslim Student Union issued an email condemning Oren's appearance. It was not clear if the arrested students were members of the group.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585446,00.html


Students arrested for heckling Oren at Irvine speech
February 9, 2010

NEW YORK (JTA) -- At least 11 students were arrested for interrupting a lecture by Israel's U.S. ambassador at a California university.

Michael Oren was interrupted repeatedly during his speech Monday night at the University of California, Irvine, which for years has been at the center of campus wars over Israel.

Oren was removed from the stage for a period because of the outbursts, prompting a university faculty member to take the podium and admonish the crowd, calling the incident "embarrassing."

Oren returned to finish his speech but did not take questions from the audience, as was scheduled, Haaretz reported.

In a statement received by the Orange County Register, the university's Muslim Student Union said, "We condemn and oppose the presence of Michael Oren, the ambassador of Israel to the United States, on our campus today."

The University of California, Irvine has long been a flashpoint for the Israel wars on American campuses, with both sides leveling accusations of intimidation. The Zionist Organization of America complained about the situation to the U.S. Department of Education, which concluded there was insufficient evidence that the university had failed to adequately respond to complaints of harassment.

More recently, the ZOA called on the Department of Justice to probe alleged fund-raising activities on behalf of Hamas by Irvine students.

http://jta.org/news/article/2010/02/09/ ... ents-in-la

VIDEO:
Oren at Irvine
By Ben Harris · February 9, 2010

Courtesy of the Orange County Register comes this excellent video of the speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren on Tuesday night.

http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/article/ ... -at-irvine

More recently, the ZOA called on the Department of Justice to probe alleged fund-raising activities on behalf of Hamas by Irvine students.


Dollars to donuts that allegation was the crux of the protest!