NOVEMBER 23 • 2023 | 39

The Arab Cultural Society, 
Muslim Student Association, 
Students United for Palestinian 
Rights (SUPR), Yemeni Student 
Association (YSA), Egyptian 
Student Association (ESA), 
Students Organize for Syria 
(SOS) and March for Our 
Lives (MFOL) introduced and 
collaborated on the bill. There 
is a strong one-sided bias that 
is evident throughout the 
legislation.
The bill is plagued with 
misinformation, making a 
plethora of incorrect claims. 
The authors state that “under 
International Law, the 
Palestinian people have the right 
to defend against colonialism 
and apartheid experienced in 
… Gaza and the West Bank … 
in which Israel still has control 
over.
” 
There’s a lot to unpack here. 
For one, Israel is not an apart-
heid state. Israeli Arabs have 
all the same rights as Jewish 
Israelis, serving in parliament 
and holding successful careers. 
An apartheid state is racially 
segregated by law, which sim-
ply is not the case here. Israelis 
are not colonialists as they are 
indigenous to the land. You can-
not be a colonialist in your own 
country. 
Furthermore, Israel disen-
gaged from the Gaza Strip in 
2005, and since then, no Jewish 
people have inhabited the ter-
ritory. 
Gaza is controlled by the ter-
rorist organization Hamas, and 
the West Bank is governed by 
the Palestinian Authority. The 
claim that Israel controls both of 
these areas is wrong. 
The last claim made is 
that “
ASMSU will support 
Palestinian, Arab, Jewish and 
allied people according to this 
bill.
” The authors’ addition of 
the Jewish people seems like an 
afterthought. We are not repre-
sented throughout the bill.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
MEETING
Approximately 50 Jewish stu-
dents and 70 students support-
ing the Palestinian side attended 
the ASMSU General Assembly 
meeting, where the fate of the 
bill was determined. Jewish stu-
dents sat on the left side of the 
room; the Palestinian students 
and their allies on the right. 
Many students on the right side 
had tape over their mouths to 
show that their beliefs were 
being “silenced.
” 
There was a clear divide 
between the two minority 
groups. You could cut the ten-
sion with a knife. 
The meeting lasted nine 
hours, until 4 a.m. Impassioned 
students gave public comment 
for the first three and a half 
hours, expressing why or why 
not they believe this legislation 
should or should not pass. In 
their speeches, many students 
from the Palestinian side 
claimed that the Israeli govern-
ment is an apartheid, ethnically 
cleansing the Palestinian people 
in Gaza. This is, again, false, as 
the population growth rate in 
Gaza is among the highest in the 
world, and Jews and Arabs have 
the same rights in society. 
There was a clear double 
standard shown throughout 

the meeting by those who were 
supposed to be unbiased. While 
speaking, Jewish students were 
consistently interrupted by 
the Office of the President of 
ASMSU (OTP), who claimed 
that what we were saying 
was “not germane to the bill” 
because of the graphic nature. 
The students on the Palestinian 
side would say things even more 
explicitly and get away with 
it. The favoritism by OTP was 
inappropriate and singled out 
Jewish students, even after going 
through so much post-Oct. 7. 
I gave public comment, and 
it was the most nerve-racking 
speech I will ever give, proving 
that I indeed found my voice. 
My heart was racing as I iden-
tified myself as a Zionist, and 
immediately, the “other half” of 
the room held up Palestinian 
flags, pictures of a 6-year-old 
Palestinian child who was bru-
tally murdered in Chicago, and 
posters with horrible messages 
that I could not get myself to 
read. 
Unfortunately, saying that 
I am a Zionist is highly con-
troversial these days despite 
it being a crucial part of my 
identity. I stayed true to myself 
and expressed why the existence 
of a Jewish state is so critical to 
the Jewish people and how it 

is problematic that ASMSU is 
becoming politicized. 
After speaking, I was too 
afraid to go out into the hallway 
to buy a bottle of water from 
the vending machine, scared to 
be harassed for staying true to 
myself. 
I never thought something 
like this would happen at my 
university. Whenever Israel 
is in the news, there is always 
an uptick in anti-Zionist and 
antisemitic rhetoric and acts 
on college campuses, but not in 
East Lansing. Michigan State’s 
Students for Justice in Palestine 
(SJP) chapter (SUPR) has not 
historically been active, and 
until Oct. 7, I did not know we 
even had a club of this nature. 
Hearing about this bill as a 
Jewish student on campus was 
very scary. Once I digested 
what these students were calling 
for, I knew that the outcome 
would not be favorable for the 
Jewish population on campus. 
University students are barely 
educated on the Arab-Israeli 
conflict; how are they supposed 
to make an informed decision 
when voting on related legisla-
tion? This conflict should not 
have been brought into Student 
Government in the first place.
Many of these General 
Assembly representatives want 
bills to pass to make themselves 
seem accomplished, explaining 
the number of votes supporting 
the bill 60-30. Perhaps it is their 
performative activism inspiring 
them to support this bill. They 
seldom read the legislation nor 
consider the impact it would 
have on all of the constituents 
they represent, which was appar-
ent in this instance. I do not 
feel represented by the students 
elected to represent me. It is 
evident that they only represent 
those who yell the loudest. @

Laela Saulson is a member of the 

MSU Class of 2024.

ABOVE AND FACING PAGE: Pro-Israel students at a vigil on campus.

