Prosor hides from student protest (again)

Edin uni's Palestine group (Students for Justice in Palestine - SJP) are doing an admirable job of ensuring that Israeli propagandists are given a hard time wherever they go. Three weeks ago they managed to stop one of Israel's racist tours. See here.

Yesterday's meeting with Prosor was surrounded by Police, was an all ticket affair, was open only to staff and students, had people going through a portacabin checkpoint that was reminiscent of Hebron (seriously) where they were searched.

Prosor had to be sneaked in and out through some hidden entrance in order to avoid the protest outside by around 80 students and non-students. There were loads of banners (End Israeli War Crimes; End the Siege of Gaza; Boycott Israel, etc) and loads of noise. Everyone who went in to hear the nonsense was made well aware of the controversy.

Around 16 students who had managed to get tickets protested inside by standing up and asking "where's the free speech for..."? It was reported that they each named a different Palestinian who had been killed recently. They then left in protest.

In an attempt to demobilise opposition to the staging of the event, the Politics Society (who hosted Prosor) had promised SJP that they would have a neutral chair; that it wouldn't just be a propaganda opportunity for Israel. In the event, the chair spent the first five minutes singing the praises of Prosor and then congratulated him on his recent promotion to the post of Israel's Ambassador to the UN. The chair made no attempt to get Prosor to answer the questions he had been asked; instead (as per his job description, so we should not be surprised), he answered the questions he wished he'd been asked.

SJP were very angry that the Politics Society had misled them; their level of protest would have been influenced by the promise they had received from the Politics Society reference neutrality and debate. SJP are unlikely to trust their word in the future.

Prosor got to sprout his propaganda, but at least some of those who imagined he deserved "free speech" will be thinking twice about their position. Free speech for Prosor means that real people end up dying; it's not just a theoretical debate.

Palestinians are asking that people show their solidarity primarily through boycott of Israel; central to that is denial of platforms to representatives of the apartheid state.

Some of the more naive Palestine supporters had gone in to hear the "debate" and some to ask awkward questions. One of them came out and publically acknowledged that he had been naive to expect a "debate"; that Prosor had control of the floor; that difficult questions were sidestepped; that criticism of Israel was ridiculed; that his lies went unchallenged; that he kept referring to "the facts" and then went on to lie; that he mentioned some facts and avoided many other ones; that to the ignorant, there was no alternative voice to challenge his propaganda.

But importantly, Prosor et al are reminded ,as ever, that wherever they go, he has to be surrounded by Police, portacabin checkpoints, and metal detectors; because he and Israel will never be given a free ride while Israel remains a racist apartheid state.