UPDATE 4/16: This article has been updated to reflect that The Daily could not independently confirm the content of event registration requests.
UPDATE 4/18: The specific names written on the tickets were stated incorrectly in a previous version of this article. This article has been updated to reflect an update from FOG to The Daily about the content of event registration requests.
Nearly 100 University of Michigan community members gathered outside Rackham Graduate School Sunday afternoon to protest a campus visit from Naftali Bennett, former Israeli prime minister from June 2021 to June 2022 and alternate prime minister from July to November 2022. Bennett was the keynote speaker for an event titled “Division to Dialogue: Bridging Perspectives in the Middle East.” The event was hosted by Facts on the Ground at Michigan, a U-M student organization founded in November 2023 with the stated goal of combating false information about the Israel-Hamas war.
On the day of the event, FOG posted an Instagram statement saying the event would be moved to a virtual livestream due to security concerns.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that given recent safety concerns, our leadership team — in collaboration with the UM Administration and various security teams — must cancel the public, in-person component of our event,” the statement said. “It is disheartening that rather than engage in dialogue and discourse, some on our campus elect to disrupt, threaten, and ultimately prevent those who seek to learn and engage.”
In an interview with The Michigan Daily after the event, Public Policy senior Max Katz, executive director of FOG, said the event was initially going to proceed in person, but upon reviewing the ticket list before the event, FOG found that 200 of these tickets wore names that listed things like “Unalive Zionists,” “Nazi Zionists” and “Israel Hitler.” Knowing this, FOG then reported this to the University and Bennett’s security detail, which ultimately resulted in the event being moved online.
The Daily could not independently confirm the content of the ticket requests.
The U-M Division of Public Safety and Security declined to share further information on the nature of threats, saying they do not release details about security-related concerns.
Despite the cancellation of the in-person event, student protesters began gathering outside Rackham at 2 p.m., where the event was scheduled to be held. In an interview with The Daily during the protest, LSA senior Salma Hamamy, president of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality and one of the protest organizers, said the protest’s goal was to express frustration with Bennett’s visit to the University.
“We’d hope for the broader community to understand that there’s a lot of grief and pain that comes with (Bennett) being present here,” Hamamy said. “Whether he’s here in person or virtually or just the idea of him being invited is absurd. It is entirely based on suppression, pushing the Zionist propaganda and narrative under this guise of saying ‘We’re just trying to simulate peace.’”
After the initial protest at Rackham, protesters marched toward the Diag and then moved toward South State Street. The protest crossed through SpringFest, a festival hosted by MUSIC Matters featuring performances by local bands and student organizations. During a music performance, one protester took the stage, calling on the audience to take part in Monday’s strike, organized by SAFE and the TAHRIR Coalition, that called on the University to divest from companies profiting from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Protesters then entered Starbucks on State Street, which has been criticized for suing Workers United, the union that represents more than 730 Starbucks workers, for using its name and likeness in a pro-Palestine post on a union social media page. The protesters continued down South State Street and turned left on East Washington Street before returning to Rackham.
At about 5 p.m., the virtual event began with a panel discussion moderated by two members of FOG.
LSA senior Jordana Levine, FOG director of expansion and recruitment, gave remarks at the beginning of the panel emphasizing the event’s purpose and mission.
“We all must understand that this war and the broader Middle Eastern conflict is not solely a Jewish issue, but one that impacts a much larger population of people,” Levine said. “Today’s event aims to highlight a diverse range of perspectives, highlighting the complexity of viewpoints on the current Israeli-Hamas war and the conflict, demonstrating that views are not binary but rather multifaceted.”
The event later switched to a discussion between Bennett and Dan Senor, senior foreign policy adviser on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, where the former prime minister said he believes it is important to move towards unity over division.
“When we’re internally weak they hit us,” Bennett said. “How do we become weak? By division. How do we become strong? By unity. Not unity of opinions, but unity of action (and) unity of cause.”
Katz said that the intention of the event was to encourage meaningful dialogue and bridge differing perspectives.
“The main premise of the event was not necessarily to propagate a single idea of an actual narrative,” Katz said. “But, rather to incite dialogue and to say things that were rather provocative.”
Katz also said that he and other members of FOG felt frustrated that campus community members with differing viewpoints chose not to participate in the event.
“In FOG, I think we are a little bit disappointed,” Katz said. “Not the fact that it was protested — I think what is frustrating for me and a lot of other people is more that the same people who are saying that things need to change are not the ones who are willing to also listen about it.”
Daily Staff Reporters Andrew Baum and Shane Baum can be reached at asbaum@umich.edu and smbaum@umich.edu.