An anti-Israel protest of about 20 people ended Tuesday afternoon with a protester being forcibly removed from Eggers Hall by a Syracuse University Department of Public Safety official.

John Sardino, associate chief of the department’s law enforcement and community policing division, forcibly removed protester Ariel Gold from the building after she and others chanted in the main Eggers stairwell for several minutes. The group had initially gathered outside the building to protest a talk by Dani Dayan, Israel’s consul general in New York City.

“I gave them an opportunity to clearly communicate their message, and after that I asked them to leave, they were cooperative and left the building without an incident,” Sardino said while walking away from Eggers. “I escorted one woman from the building, yeah, she was cooperative.”

The protest started outside Eggers at about 11:30 a.m. The group entered the building roughly an hour later. Administrators of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs asked the protesters to leave before Sardino removed Gold, who on Twitter lists her place of residence as Ithaca.

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Gold led the protesters into Eggers, chanting, “Free, free Gaza! Free, free Palestine!” She is the national co-director of Code Pink: Women for Peace, an international organization that opposes United States “wars and militarism,” according to its website. Gold has been arrested multiple times for protesting. She and other protesters took issue with Dayan’s involvement in the resettlement of Palestinians.

“Stealing land is a crime! Dani should be doing time!” they chanted.

Dayan was chairman of the Yesha Council, a collection of councils in the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, an area of land claimed by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The two governments also have disputed territory on the Gaza Strip.

“The university should not be hosting talks by somebody who directly violates international law,” Gold said after Sardino removed her.

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits occupying powers from deporting residents of the land it’s occupying. This portion of the treaty makes Israel’s settlement of the West Bank illegal, Gold said.

At least 37 Palestinian protesters have been shot and killed by the Israeli military on the border of the Gaza Strip in recent months. A journalist wearing a vest marked as “PRESS” was also killed, resulting in international outcry.

Ursula Rozum, a member of the Syracuse Peace Council, said the university has been deceptive in its marketing of Dayan’s talk.

“They talk about his business accomplishments and create a platform for him to talk about his vision for the future of Palestine, which is a future that really is a Jewish-only state,” Rozum said. “We are here to bring attention to his real views.”

The event listing mentioned Dayan’s “career as an entrepreneur and businessman.” It also stated that he was chief foreign envoy of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, an alternative name for the Yesha council.

Senior Caroline Monsour, an international relations and marketing double major, also attended the protest. Monsour, who said she’s half-Syrian, criticized SU for hosting what she called “pro-Israel” events, such as Dayan’s talk and Israel Fest, which was hosted last Wednesday by the Winnick Hillel Center for Jewish Life to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding.

“That man is a clear, clear example of apartheid, oppression, everything,” Monsour said.

— News Editor Sam Ogozalek contributed reporting to this article.

Published on April 24, 2018 at 4:06 pm

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