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T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2019 DUKECHRONICLE.COM
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEENTH YEAR, ISSUE 20
‘Shame’
Protesters interrupt Israel talk
Kira Upin | Associate Photography Editor
By Nathan Luzum Managing Editor
An event featuring former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was interrupted by around two dozen protesters Wednesday evening. As soon as moderator Bruce Jentleson posed his first question to Livni about the 2008 and 2009 Gaza War, one student stood up and began to speak loudly. “I’m sorry, but the 2008 Israel-Palestine War? That was a massacre,” the student began, before being drowned out by conflicting shouts of support and opposition, as some yelled for the protester to “sit down” while others demanded that the audience “let her speak.” A security guard approached her shortly after she began yelling and handed her a small card, which she accepted, but the guard did not escort her out immediately. As soon as the first protester paused, more students began to stand up to voice their opinions over the next several minutes. Many protesters read the names of people who had been killed by Israeli forces, holding up pieces of paper with pictures of those who had died. They then began to chant about Livni. “We will have a civil discourse for all of these issues that people care about,” said Jentleson, William Preston Few professor of public policy, after the first protester spoke. “You’ve had your say—there are other people here who want to participate.” Around 2 ½ minutes after the protest began, the students began to file out of the auditorium while shouting “shame” and “you don’t belong here” toward Livni.
“Just because they’re Palestinians doesn’t mean their lives don’t matter,” one student shouted as she left the room. Some of Livni’s critics point to her involvement in a threeweek bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip, while her defenders hail her as a leader of the Israeli peace movement and push for a two-state solution. A petition calling on Duke to cancel the talk had received more than 500 votes as of Wednesday evening. Once the protesters left the room, Livni briefly addressed their chants. “You know what’s a shame? It’s a shame that we cannot have this discussion,” she said. Later in the talk, Livni added that her goal is to give people tools and answers—not just her ideological views—about the situation, which she said that the protesters missed “because they’re not willing to listen to the truth.” The event was sponsored in part by the American Grand Strategy Program, whose director is Peter Feaver, professor of political science and public policy. Feaver attended the event and told The Chronicle afterward that he was disappointed by the protesters’ tactics. “I understand their passion, but I was disappointed in the approach they took, which had the effect of closing off discussion rather than promoting it,” Feaver said. Mary Pat McMahon, vice president/vice provost for student affairs, also attended the event and was present when the protest took place. “The students who attempted to disrupt the event this evening clearly had impassioned views,” she wrote in an email to The
Chronicle after the event. “From my perspective, Minister Livni seemed genuinely interested in having a discourse with them as part of the program. I’m interested in working with student groups and faculty in the future to determine if we can find avenues to foster constructive engagement with speakers.” Feaver mentioned he had contacted one of the protesters he knew before the event and provided them with the option “to formulate a tough question” for Livni to address. However, they chose not to accept that choice. “I think that would have been a much more effective way of critically engaging [Livni], putting her to the test and asking her to answer different questions,” he said. “I gave them that option, and they rejected it.” Sophomore James Mbuthia, one of the protesters, explained that when Feaver found out that the group was organizing a protest, he wrote an email encouraging them to “explore whether there are not more constructive ways” of organizing. Mbuthia argued that Duke inviting Livni with the assumption that everyone would benefit from the conversation was based on “white privilege” and was an “act of violence.” He said that this act of violence needed to be countered by a protest. Sophomore Olivia Levine, a member of the audience not involved in the protest, said that she thought Livni gave an effective response as to why there needs to be dialogue on both sides of the debate. “What I did not appreciate about the protest is that people came in and they stormed out without even letting [Livni] See TALK on Page 12
After protest, Livni advocates for two-state solution benefit both Israel and Palestine. However, she emphasized that as a Zionist, she did not Israel has its own national aspiration to keep itself as a represent the Palestinian cause and that it’s not about whether Jewish democratic state, Livni said, and the Palestinians have she agrees with the rights of Palestinians—instead, Livni’s goal At a Wednesday talk, former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi their own national aspiration to create a Palestinian state, which was to uphold the values of Israel as a Jewish democratic state. Livni stressed the need for a two-state solution to maintain a she acknowledged as a legitimate goal. “Since I believe that Israel needs to be with a Jewish majority, Jewish democratic state. However, her presence on campus was I believe in the need to divide the land. The idea of two states met with resistance and protest by some students. for two peoples suggests a solution, how to end the conflict,” she The event was moderated by Bruce Jentleson, William said. “From my perspective, I don’t care if the Palestinian state is Preston Few professor of public policy. In the days before the created or not, if that can solve the conflict, establish legitimate event, concerned community members debated about what borders and keep Israel as a Jewish democratic state.” Livni stood for, with some holding her up as a peacemaker Livni also mentioned the fence in the West Bank—which she while others accused her of being a war criminal. argues was built to give Israelis security—as an example of a Livni, the former foreign minister of Israel and a former reason why Israel and Palestine must make peace, in the form leader of the opposition, was the chief negotiator for a two-state of a two-state solution with established borders. solution on the Israeli side for the last two rounds of peace talks. Before introducing Livni to the audience, Jentleson said that Working first as a lawyer in the private sector, Livni said that the the event had stirred “a bit more controversy” than many other reason she joined politics was to maintain the values of Israel. American Grand Strategy Program events at Duke. “In order to keep values of Israel as a Jewish democratic state “These dialogues are always intense, people have strongly with a Jewish majority within the borders of Israel, we need to held views on political security, human and moral bases, but it’s accept the idea of two states for two peoples,” Livni said. precisely on issues like this that our dialogue must be civil and She emphasized that this “friendly divorce” between the two Kira Upin | Associate Photographer Editor states and the delineation of the border between them would Former Israeli official Tzipi Livni at Wednesday talk. See LIVNI on Page 12 By Mona Tong
Local and National News Editor
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