The students “are passionate; they are caring and deeply believe in social justice,” said Arif Shaikh, who moderated a Saturday night panel at the Islamic Institute of Orange County, where religious leaders and political activists called on Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas to drop the charges.
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“Protests like this happen all around the country,” said Reem Salahi, a Pasadena lawyer representing the 11 men who at the time ranged in age from 19 to 23. “The O.C. district attorney has engaged in a witch hunt … with its highly selective and unwarranted criminal charges.”
The students have won support from UCI faculty, free-speech advocates, Muslim leaders and a liberal Jewish group. But other Jewish organizations, including the prominent Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, have denounced the students’ actions, saying they infringed on the rights of those who came to hear Oren speak.
The LAT doesn’t address it, but the statement from Shaikh presumes that there was something righteous about what these students were protesting, which in turn presumes things about the state of Israel. There are arguments both ways, of course, but for some reason the reporter felt it appropriate to just take as gospel the Israel-is-bad perspective.
As for the charges, like I said, I’m on the fence. Anyone compelled to nudge me?
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