MARCH 23 • 2023 | 23
Diversity Day Fallout
to represent Michigan’s newly formed 10th Congressional District,
referred to Zionists as occupiers running an apartheid state and
accused Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip. In a video recording of
the presentation shared with the JN, Arraf also denied Israel’s exis-
tence, only referring to the land as Palestine.
In reaction to Arraf’s unexpected anti-Israel message, some
Jewish students abruptly left the auditorium.
A Jewish 10th-grader who holds a student leadership position
and wished to remain anonymous for fear of academic reproach
or harassment from her peers, said she was shocked by what Arraf
told the students and left the assembly in tears.
“We were told that we were about to hear from people of differ-
ent backgrounds who would share their personal experiences of
discrimination from their youth. (Arraf) started at the beginning
talking about her childhood experiences, but she veered off topic
very quickly into talking about how Israelis discriminated against
Palestinians. She just kept mentioning Israeli soldiers; it was very
odd.
“Then she started mentioning things about the Jews, that she
worked for an organization that tried to bring Palestinian and
Israeli kids together to become friends and play sports, but she
had to resign because she could not handle the fact that Israeli kids
would go home to their homes but Palestinian kids went home
with guns pointed at them by Israeli soldiers who were probably
the big brothers and sisters of the Israeli kids the Palestinian kids
just befriended.
”
A video recording sent to the JN confirmed this portion of
Arraf’s presentation. Arraf, a Christian Palestinian with an Israeli
Arab father and a graduate of the University of Michigan, is fluent
in Arabic and Hebrew and worked for the Seeds of Peace organiza-
tion before she resigned and took a more hardline approach. Her
Facebook feed includes posts supporting BDS, the boycott, divest-
ment and sanctions movement against Israel, and she has said she
empathizes with the armed resistance movements of the first and
second Intifadas.
The sophomore said Arraf’s talk was mislead-
ing, especially for students who have little to
no knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. She said what was troubling
was that the students would accept
Arraf’s presentation as factual because
it was offered in an academic setting.
“The students who don’t have a clue
(about Israel and the Palestinians)
who heard her speak were there
for a school-approved assembly
talking about diversity,
” she said. “So,
obviously, they would never think
that her information was flawed or
showed bias. The whole thing was
just dumbfounding to me.
”
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