Members of the Brandeis Zionist Alliance as well as a group of unassociated students staged responses to last week's Israeli Occupation Awareness Week, which was co-sponsored by Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.Demonstrations held in response to the Israeli Occupation Awareness Week sponsored by BZA included signs around campus that read "We Support Israel;" Piece of Cake for Peace, at which students handed out pieces of cake with blue and white frosting and a piece of paper with a fact about Israel on the plate; and a bar night at Joe Sent Me in Waltham, where shot glasses reading "Israel Gives Peace a Shot" were given out.

Publicity Coordinator for BZA Tamar Schneck '12 said in an interview with the Justice that the protest events sponsored by BZA were created to "promote a positive image of Israel" instead of countering the Israeli Occupation Awareness Week events.

Additionally, members of BZA distributed pro-Israel pamphlets at the events held during Israeli Occupation Awareness Week.

"[Planners of the Israeli Occupation Awareness Week] brought in a few speakers that we fundamentally disagreed with," Schneck said. She further explained that BZA distributed pamphlets at the different speaker events during the week that responded to the speaker's topics.

A few dozen other students that chose to protest the Israeli Occupation Awareness Week joined together independent of groups such as BZA and the Brandeis Israel Public Affairs Committee.

In an e-mail to the Justice, Julian Olidort '11 described the group as students "that were disturbed by this past week's message and felt the need to respond."

According to Olidort's e-mail, the events included "a day-long recitation on Rabb steps of the names of Jewish, Christian and Muslim victims of Palestinian terror attacks, signing a petition to bring humanitarian relief to Gilad Schalit [sic] ([an Israeli soldier] who was abducted by Hamas in 2006 and [has been] held ever since, without the right to a visit from international humanitarian aid organizations), putting up "I support Israel" posters, and staging a silent walk-out during the Chomsky talk."

Concerning the Rabb steps protest, Emily Jager '11 said in an interview with the Justice that "Standing here and talking about how many Jewish people died" was not an appropriate response because "a lot of Palestinians died, and it doesn't show the complexity of the situation."

Co-founder of Jewish Voice for Peace Liza Behrendt '11 described the protests on Rabb steps in an e-mail to the Justice as "not com[ing] across as a relevant response to 'Israeli Occupation Awareness Week,'" further explaining that both "JVP and [Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine] advocate for policies that bolster Israeli security by promoting peace over expansion."

Behrendt also wrote, "The whole point of 'Israeli Occupation Awareness Week' was to inspire dialogue," and expressed happiness that "so many members of BZA and BIPAC came out to our events, listened, asked thoughtful questions, and engaged in constructive dialogue."

During Chomsky's presentation, approximately 50 students wearing white shirts stood up and left during the middle of the presentation in a silent protest.

According to the e-mail from Olidort, "The initial plan was that we sit through the entire Chomsky speech, thus demonstrating a full respect of freedom of speech," and leave before the applause at the end of the presentation. But, "after 45 minutes of listening to Professor Chomsky, many in the group felt personally uncomfortable by his remarks and thus felt the need to leave earlier than anticipated."

President of Brandeis Israel Public Affairs Committee Sarah Geller '13 stayed through the whole Chomsky presentation to ask questions at the end. "I am happy to see that students are as passionate as I am in supporting Israel's right to exist as a democratic state, which is the homeland of the Jewish people," she wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. "Regarding Chomsky, personally, I thought staying and asking challenging questions would be the most productive approach to further meaningful conversation on campus.