Omar Suleiman – Columbia University Gaza Protests Students Divest From Israel – Lex Fridman

Omar Suleiman
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AI: Summary ©

The speaker discusses the protests on campus against Israel and the messaging of the protests, which are against Israeli policy. They recommend going to the media to see one of the protestors and stress the importance of listening to the overwhelming majority of voices for justice.

AI: Summary ©

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			What do you think about the protests on
		
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			campus against Israel?
		
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			Every protest I've been to has had the
		
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			exact same tenor, has had the exact same
		
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			messaging, but you always have that idiot or
		
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			two that shows up with a sign.
		
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			And no one knows who that idiot is,
		
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			ironically, never comes with anybody else, always shows
		
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			up somehow in the middle of the protest
		
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			and puts up a sign that says something
		
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			completely contrary to the messaging of the protest,
		
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			and then all the cameras shift towards that
		
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			guy.
		
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			I see it every single time, but the
		
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			overwhelming tenor of all of these protests has
		
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			been consistent.
		
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			It's been calling for freedom, it's been calling
		
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			for liberation, it's been calling for an end
		
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			to the genocide, a ceasefire, an end to
		
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			the occupation, an end to the apartheid.
		
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			People go and serve in the IDF and
		
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			then come back to the United States or
		
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			the they're not stigmatized for participating in apartheid
		
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			policies or participating in a genocide.
		
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			How am I supposed to feel as a
		
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			Palestinian knowing that this guy right next to
		
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			me participated in murdering my relatives in Gaza,
		
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			right?
		
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			And has open rein to say what he
		
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			wants to say or do what he wants
		
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			to do.
		
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			And so we haven't seen the other side
		
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			of that as well, but I'd recommend to
		
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			anyone that's talking about, you know, pro-Palestine
		
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			protests to actually go see one.
		
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			But I think that this is a sign
		
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			of the outrage and the anger and the
		
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			frustration that many students have about being silenced.
		
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			Again, in the media, in academic settings, professors
		
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			are losing their jobs, students are having their
		
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			faces put on trucks, being doxed, the shady
		
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			watch lists that get put out.
		
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			I'm on a few of them as well,
		
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			and I just don't care anymore.
		
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			Right.
		
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			But you got these shady watch lists.
		
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			People are losing their jobs at law firms.
		
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			They're losing all of their future opportunities, young
		
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			Palestinian students, because of something that they tweeted
		
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			that's being taken out of context 10 years
		
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			ago, right, when they were 17 years old.
		
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			It's ridiculous.
		
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			And so I think that, you know, we
		
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			have to listen to the overwhelming majority of
		
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			voices of people that are demonstrating for justice.