- S.A. Reps Read Pro-Palestine, Anti-Israel Statement Without Debate
- S.A. Members Promise to Remove Democratically Elected Representative
- VP Internal Operations: “We are not speaking for any of you.”
SA VP of Finance Uchenna Chukwukere (’21), VP of Internal Operations Laila M. Abd Elmagid (’21), and incoming College of Arts and Sciences Representative Joseph Mullen (’24) introduced a statement titled, “Recognizing and Condemning Violent Attacks Against Palestinians.” The statement asked the campus community to “stop equivocating ‘both sides’ in the ongoing violence.” It also called on the university to end its partnership with Technion in Haifa and for CUPD to end any partnership with Israel.
President of Cornellians for Israel, Irene Partsuf (’22), pointed out several inaccuracies of the anti-Israel statement during open microphone. She pointed out that over 1,750 rockets have been launched by Hamas into Israel, with 300 landing in Gaza. “The proposed statement mentions none of this…Israel has an unequivocal right to defend itself,” Partsuf argued. Due to procedural restraints, Partsuf’s microphone was cut off at forty-five seconds. SA VP External Operations Morgan Baker (’23) yielded her time to Irene so that she could complete her statement.
Outgoing Students with Disabilities Rep, Raquel Zohar also opposed the anti-Israel statement, saying, “We can’t bring forward a statement which willfully ignores over 1,600 rockets fired at Israeli civilians by a terrorist organization.” She argued that a statement should be uplifting both sides and not make a one-sided argument.
Responding to Zohar, Elmagid questioned why the representatives should not be putting out this statement. “Your name is not on the statement. We are not speaking for any of you. If you would like to make your own statement, then you are more than welcome to,” Elmagid asserted. She added, “Again, we did say [this is] not something wanted to debate, whether people deserve human rights or not…Just make your own statement.”
Outgoing S.A. representatives also promised to work to remove newly elected LGBTQIA+ Liaison At-large, Dillon Eisman (’22). Outgoing liaison Tomas Reuning (’21) condemned the election of Eisman during the open microphone period. Without presenting evidence at the meeting, Reuning claimed that Dillon “has been openly transphobic, Islamophobic, and racist.” Reuning vowed to work with other LGBTQIA+ groups to remove Eisman from his seat by the end of the summer. Presumably addressing the voters, Reuning added, “And hopefully y’all will elect someone who has the interest of all LGBT people. And this is not for debate.”
Chukwukere also condemned Eisman’s election. He argued, without presenting tangible evidence, that Eisman had posted transphobic, racist, and misogynistic rhetoric on his social media. Chukwukere encouraged the incoming Assembly to remove Eisman as soon as possible and choose someone who “cares about the queer community and understands the intersectionality that comes with it.”
Eisman responded to these accusations during the meeting by saying, “As a gay, Jewish person, I think these people have neglected to see the fact [of intersectionality]. As a Jewish person who has family and has lived in Israel…these comments are anti-Semetic.” He added, “The persistent harassment from members who are currently serving on the Student Assembly [against] people like myself who are running this past term is incredibly inappropriate.” He also claimed that he had documented the harassment and possessed screenshots of tweets and Instagram direct messages.
Grace Ogden also contributed to this reporting of this article.
