Unable to finish his statement, the protestor’s voice was drowned out by threats and verbal harassment. It is a statement that resonates with numerous human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the UN Human Rights Council to name a few.

A little over a year after Israel’s massacre in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren has been on a propaganda tour trying to regain legitimacy, in the eyes of the American public, for a state that has committed war crimes and violated humanitarian law since its inception. Nonetheless, half of the crowd, most of them elderly community members, refused to listen.

Counter to the cutting remarks, a younger population of students cheered on, clapping and hollering in support. A police officer walked up to the row from which the protestor stood up to be heard. Accompanied with backup, he gestured to the protestor to leave the event. The protestor willingly stepped out, and was led by police out of the hall into another room where he was patted down and arrested.

Another nine individuals who chose to rise up made their statements throughout the first half of the event.

No resistance. No violence. No misconduct. After making his statement, each one readily followed police orders to leave the room. Yet throughout the event, school officials consistently felt the need to reassure the crowd that consequences were to be had, disciplinary action was to be taken, and perhaps suspension and expulsion was in order, if the individuals continued to practice their freedom of speech.

After the tenth individual was escorted out by police, about a third of the room, students of different races, ethnicities and religions, peacefully rose from their chairs and marched out chanting slogans that called for justice not only at home in the university, but abroad in Palestine. During this time, the cops discreetly arrested one individual – a young man who was a part of the chanting crowd. No one knows the reason for his arrest, but that’s how the Irvine Ten became the Irvine Eleven.

The audience spat out verbal threats at the students as they marched out, calling them failures, primates and other derogatory terms.  Oren continued his speech for another half hour until he finished. While the crowd who chose to listen to his speech remained inside the room, the marchers gathered outside near the room to peacefully protest with signs and slogans.

According to some, the Eleven violated his rights to freedom of speech, even though he has violated the human rights of millions of people. As Martin Luther King Jr., once said, “True Peace is not merely the absence of tension, but it is the presence of Justice.” They were arrested. Why? For simply demanding that justice be the lens we use to see the world. That peace cannot be won if justice isn’t truly served.

Taken from: www.irvine11.com