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University Police Officer Michael Barnes monitors a crowd protesting speaker Amir Abdul Malik Ali outside the Barrett Ballroom of the Student Union Tuesday. The protesters included members from the Jewish Student Union and Hillel of Silicon Valley. STANLE [Click to enlarge]

Ali came to the Barrett Ballroom in the Student Union to speak about the role of Muslims in America.

Members of the Jewish Student Union began to stand outside the ballroom at 2:30 p.m. and held signs as they stood confined behind a red rope.

Baskin said there are about 30 members of the JSU, and about 15 attended the protest.

The signs ranged in sentiment from "Different Beliefs Can Live Together," and "Support a United Campus," to "Malik Spreads Hate."

JSU President Aaron Baskin said signs that support a united campus were created because of rifts between Muslim and Jewish organizations at other schools where Ali had spoken, like Foothill Junior College and San Francisco State University.

"These groups no longer talk to each other or have events with each other," he said.

Baskin said the group wanted to get their message across without being confrontational.

Baskin, a junior majoring in economics, said that his student group had held events with Muslim student groups in the past but didn't have anything scheduled currently.

Baskin said the two groups had a good relationship in the past, but he is concerned about the future.

"Up until now we worked together really well," Baskin said.

He characterized Ali as a pro-violence speaker and called him a hate-monger.

The University Police Department was also in attendance with two uniformed officers and about five plainclothesmen.

Sgt. Jenny Pak said they were not there to enforce anything or try to arrest anyone but rather to keep things calm.

"This was pretty well organized," she said.

As students arrived to hear Ali speak, many took notice of the protest and some felt a need to stare at the protesters.

Three students from Evergreen Valley College, who are members of the group Students For Justice, stood about 15 feet from the protesters and glared at them but made no comments to the protesters. One member, Carlos Padilla, said he was there to show support for the Muslim community.

"We are here to show our dislike for the hate speech that's being brought by the Zionists from Israel as well as the propaganda against the Muslim community in the United States," Padilla said.

Others who came said they were curious such as Yasir Khan, a freshman computer engineering major.

"I don't really know who Malik is or his background, but he is speaking about Muslims in America, and since I am Muslim in America, I would like to hear what he has to say," Khan said.

Senior Tarek Khouzam, a computer science major, went to hear Ali speak as he had done on other occasions and held a flyer with what he called anti-Semitic quotes handed out by members of the JSU.

"I have heard this person speak before and he's not anti-Semitic," Khouzam said. "If he was, I wouldn't be here. I am an Arab. They need to get their fliers straight."

As the lecture ended and people began to filter out, the slight tension that was prevalent before Ali spoke was heightened, but the protest remained incident free.

Hanny Zaki, a sophomore business administration major, exited Barrett Ballroom holding a handmade sign that said, in symbols, "the Jewish Star of David equals swastika."

"Nazism equals fascism and what is going on in Israel is also fascism," Balbaky said.

Ali said the protest was understandable.

"They are going through a rough situation, and what I mean by that is the Zionist minded Jews," he said. "We are still going to stand up. We may not have the FBI behind us, like they do, or the government behind us, like they do, or the media behind us, like they do, but we are going to stand up. You can call us what you want; we are still going to stand up for the truth."

Ali said groups like JSU intimidate by withholding donations to universities when speakers like himself are invited to speak, but he was comfortable with their form of protest.

"They were cool. They got the chance to express themselves. That's how it should be," Ali said, "They sat in and asked some of their questions. That is how it should be."

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