While the Columbia Institute of Global Politics and Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security held an event on the rise of gender-based violence as weapons of war and tactics of terrorism, protesters interrupted the speakers, including members of the Columbia School of Social Work, on Friday.
The protesters marched outside and started yelling as soon as the conference began. The picketing event was posted on Instagram titled "No Platform for IGP Israel's Global Propagandists." The invitation read, "CUAD calls on supporters of Palestinian liberation to join us to picket a high-visibility atrocity propaganda event, 'Preventing and Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence,' hosted by the Institute of Global Politics (IGP). Speakers include Hilary Clinton, ex-IOF spy Yarhi Milo, UN Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, NYT hack Jeffrey Gettleman, and Sheryl 'Lean In' Sandberg. The IGP has a history of denying the genocide in Palestine and erasing the IOF's sexual violence against Palestinians."
When Hillary Clinton began speaking, one man yelled, “Hillary Rodham Clinton, you are a war criminal! The people of Libya, the people of Iraq, the people of Syria, the people of Yemen, the people of Palestine as well as the people of America will never forgive you. And you will burn! Free Palestine! Free Free Palestine! Free Palestine!” He was escorted out of the building by security.
Secretary @HillaryClinton tried going on, but the protestors were not having it. Again, her poise was incredible. pic.twitter.com/ilSiWGsnjc
— Shai Davidai (@ShaiDavidai) February 9, 2024
Clinton responded, “Yelling doesn’t solve the problem. People are free to protest, but they are not free to disrupt events or classes.”
The protests appeared to have approximately ten participants. While US UN Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield was speaking, the protesters staged a walkout of the event.
Keren Yarhi-Milo, Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, opened up the event by saying, “Far too often we've seen rape and other forms of gender-based violence used as weapons of war and tactics of terrorism. We’ve seen this in Ukraine, where we continue to hear of rape and other unspeakable acts of sexual violence committed by Russian soldiers against women of all ages. We've seen this in Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where there are numerous harrowing reports of pervasive gang rape and other forms of gender-based violence. And we saw this on October 7 with horrific acts of sexual violence committed by Hamas against Israeli women and girls.”
The conference included experts in sexual violence
Speakers included US Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Former US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield. Panelists included ambassadors, policy advisors in the White House, and experts in sexual violence working at prominent NGOs and universities.
Several of the speakers have spoken against continued conflict in the Israel-Hamas War. The speakers discussed ways to combat and prevent acts of sexual violence in conflict and discussed conflicts all over the world where this violence has occurred and continues to occur.