Ariel students protest against Obama's boycott
The students from the Ariel university organized a protest against Obama's deliberate exclusion of them from invitations. His snub also led to panning by at least 4 Congressman:
Four Republican congressmen have written a letter to US President Barack Obama to protest the exclusion of Ariel University students from the speech he is scheduled to deliver on Thursday. [...]Good to see that US politicians are also galled at Obama's doubt-snub. Here's an op-ed by Dror Eydar stating that we're all Ariel alumna now.
The letter, penned by Representative Bill Johnson (ROhio), also took issue with Obama’s decision not to address the Knesset during this week’s visit to Israel, as his predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton did when they visited the country during their tenures in the White House.
It was also signed by Republican representatives Jim Jordan and Brad Wenstrup of Ohio and John Fleming of Louisiana. [...]
The letter said that the congressmen understood that Obama had chosen instead to address students, a move that it said was “commendable and encouraged.”
However, the congressmen said, “we are disappointed to learn that students from the University of Ariel, located in the West Bank town of Ariel, did not receive an invitation to hear you speak. Especially since the University of Ariel is the first beyond the Green Line, and is officially and legally recognized by the Government of Israel.”
“This is exactly what we wanted,” vice chairwoman of Ariel’s student union Galiya Levy told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. “It is amazing to see that our fight became a global initiative, not just for students but for anyone who cared and sees this as an important discrimination.”
Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, islam, Israel, United States, US Congress
