SAFI Poster Taken Down After Complaints From ASC

Politically-charged posters hung earlier this week by the Student Alliance for Israel have sparked controversy, re-raising questions about the limits of free speech and expression in a public university setting.

The posters are components of SAFI's "Wall of Peace," a display which adorns the window of the RSO's office on the fourth floor of the Student Union.

The sign bearing the slogan "Arab leaders, stop inciting hate," although removed after one day, has resulted in the registry of at least one official complaint with the Center for Student Development (CSD), Arab Student Club (ASC) President Ryan Dawud said.

SAFI President, Matt Hoffman, explained that the group agreed to remove the poster after a student, unaffiliated with either group, complained to him that the charge put upon "Arab leaders" was too general. Dawud cited current peace agreements between Israel and two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan, as proof of the verity of the student's claim.

Dawud said of the signs that while he was, "offended as an Arab and as a Palestinian," and that the political implication of the posters was less serious than "the fact that certain individuals are using an RSO and its office � [to] intentionally offend people and attempt to incite hate."

Hoffman, on the contrary, claimed that the display, part of a SAFI campaign titled, "Teach Kids Peace," was "not intended to make anyone uncomfortable on this campus."

Instead it was intended to "expose statements that the Palestinian authority uses to incite their children to hate Jews."

"We won't sit here silent�Anti-Israel activity will continue to occur anyway," said Hoffman.

Dawud found Hoffman's assertion that the UMass campus is pervaded by a strong anti-Israeli attitude untrue.

March 14, 2008