Being one of the five Arab students denied access to the lecture April 12 at Hillel, I wanted to clarify the following.

Never before have I experienced such a thing on our campus. Hillel Executive Director Simon Amiel presented us with a weak argument saying that he doesn’t want any signs of the conflict during their Jewish sabbath and asked us to respect the feeling of the Jewish students inside. If that was true, why would he invite three soldiers on that day who have nothing to talk about except the conflict? Why didn’t they invite a rabbi for example?

If my friends and I had blond hair and blue eyes and walked into the building, I don’t think Amiel would have asked us what our religion was.

We have been denied access because of our looks and language. Last Friday’s incident has turned Hillel’s door into a checkpoint, which you only pass depending on the way you look, the faith you hold and the mood of the person standing there. This was also unjust to the students inside who are not even exposed to the other side’s questions to those soldiers.
-Rida Barakat
senior