By Jeff Lipton
Holding signs and chanting slogans, about 200 students and faculty rallied outside the consulate, 633 3rd Avenue, for about an hour on Wednesday, Dec. 5. The focus of the rally was to protest the Swiss government hosting the Fourth Geneva Convention, whose purpose was to take up the cause of the Palestinian people and unjustly label Israel a country that willfully kills, tortures and deprives Palestinians of their basic rights, Rambam officials said.
School officials and students at Rambam said the convention has demonstrated an obvious bias against Israel and pointed out several cases around the world in which the convention has not acted when human rights were being violated, instead choosing to single out Israel in the latest bloodshed.
They said the Geneva Convention stood silent from 1949-1967, when Jordan occupied the West Bank against international law and violated human rights by desecrating Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem. They also questioned where the convention was when the Soviet Union occupied Eastern Europe from 1949-1989, killing innocent civilians and denying others their basic human rights.
The rally also protested the continued presence of the Kindlifresserbrunnen or Ogre Fountain, which stands in the corner of Berne, the capital of Switzerland. According to historians, the statue depicts a Jew in the act of devouring Christian babies, a powerful symbol of anti-Semitism, they said.
Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, Rambam's dean, said the convention fails to make the distinction between killing in self-defense such as what is happening in Israel and carrying out mass murders against innocent people.
We have to keep pressure on Geneva and speak out against evil and the wrong, said Rabbi Friedman, who returned from a trip to Israel more than a week ago. We can't have them do these type of things and get away with it.
During the past five years, Rambam has organized several protest rallies in Manhattan and in front of homes of accused Nazi war criminals. Rabbi Friedman said the rallies have produced successful results, such as calling for the extradition of Nazi war criminals, whom Rambam students and staff have helped bring to justice.
Rabbi Friedman said the rallies are important politically to help bring about a change and make the world a better place. But the students also get a first-hand lesson in social studies, which goes further than just reading about it in the classroom.
The students agree. Izzy Weinstein and Dani Abilevitz, both 14 and first-year students at Rambam, an all-boys Yeshiva on Frost Lane, said they learn much more by participating in these events.
It's a good political learning experience, said Izzy. Instead of talking about politics in class, we get to experience politics in action. And it's a great feeling to condemn injustice. Besides, when you see injustice, you should not just sit back and be apathetic.
Dani added, I feel it's a very good educational experience. This way we're not just learning about it in class. It is a very good feeling that we, as young kids at the school, could show that we are actually doing something and participating in this.
They all agreed with Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's retaliation against recent suicide bombers by hitting Palestinian strongholds.
Israel is trying to root out terrorism, just like the U.S., Izzy said.
Students said they believe their rallies do make a difference. We want to try to change the way of thinking by the Swiss government, Dani said.
