Campus Leaders Vote To Ban All Israeli Defense Forces Speakers From University

The University of Maryland’s (UMD) Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution on Wednesday to demand the university ban Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) speakers.

The resolution, which passed 25-0 with only one abstention, was created in response to the campus group Students Supporting Israel hosting three IDF soldiers at an event earlier in October. The SGA called on the school to condemn the event, formally apologize and forbid any “speakers who have been found, or are being actively investigated for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or systematic human rights violations” from being hosted on campus, according to UMD’s independent student newspaper The Diamondback.

UMD did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Four people were detained by university police at the event after a protest broke out, The Diamondback reported. One of SGA’s resolutions demands the university apologize for detaining the individuals and host a meeting with them so they “can express concerns and demand policy changes.”

The SGA is demanding the university “publicly acknowledge the harm caused by this event” and offer “an apology to the affected students and the wider campus community,” The Diamondback reported. The newspaper cited a September United Nations report that said Israel committed “genocidal acts” in the Gaza Strip such as “killing and seriously harming unprecedented numbers of Palestinians” and “blocking humanitarian aid leading to starvation,” among other claims. (RELATED: University Where Charlie Kirk Was Assassinated Ramps Up Police Force)

“It was a double standard that the university decided that it was worth university resources to protect war criminals rather than their own students, considering students who vocally spoke out against this event were detained,” Zyad Khan, UMD student and SGA representative who sponsored the resolutions, told The Diamondback.

The individuals were only detained for about an hour, according to The Diamondback. University policy prohibits the disruption of events on campus, allowing protesters only to demonstrate outside of the event building or to “give the speaker a respectful hearing” inside the event space.

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