Friday, February 12, 2010
Regarding an earlier item concerning yet another purported incident against Jews at York University, Jewish Students Assaulted at York University, Canada, it appears that the incident may have been exaggerated: Security footage debunks assault allegations
...Surveillance footage made available to Excalibur shows no evidence of a physical brawl. While the footage lacks audio, it does clearly show that no one physically touched another person or invaded anyone's personal space in a threatening manner.
Body language is exuberant, at most, but never aggressive. No more than 20 to 30 people can be seen around the table in the video, including both parties and bystanders. Two visible handheld cameras can be seen on screen, none of which is smacked to the ground.
Nevertheless, Alex Bilyk, York's director of media relations, said that an investigation further probing this issue is underway, and any necessary action will be taken via the Student Code of Conduct...
Also, at ShalomLife:
In the wake of last week's incident involving Jewish students on its campus, York University has made available to the media a surveillance video documenting the incident, which took place in Vari Hall on the university's campus.
The video was taken using the closed circuit cameras which are installed on campus, and although there is no audio as the camera is placed in a high traffic area, it clearly shows the events which took place between 4pm and 5pm on Monday, February 1, the day in question. The table which was set up by the Hasbara group at York is visible, and no more than about 15 to 30 people are seen around the table at any given time. At one point, it can be seen that an argument may have taken place; however, at no point during the video is there any evidence of a brawl, nor can a shouting match be evident from the students' body language. At several points cameras are being used by the students, and at one point a female student who obviously does not take well to being on camera tries to reach for the camera, but the male student holding it lifts it up so it is out of her reach. No evidence of students being physically assaulted can be found during the video. York's security officers are seen towards the end of the video taking statements from students who were on scene...
Contrary to how some are characterizing things, it does not sound like a hoax, but the product of emotions and sensitivities running understandably high. If any York students are around, particularly the Habara group, I'd be interested to hear your perspective.
Yes, I think we should give Hasbara the benefit of the doubt. After all we do not have audio. And I have no doubt they said such hateful things that totally traumatized these students. So I don't think it was a hoax, it is more likely the trauma led them to believe it was true and they overreacted a bit.
Why give Hasbara the benefit of the doubt when it's been shown that they lied:
a) about the number of people present
b) about contacting the police
c) about the assaults.
Here's the kicker. Hasbara claimed two of their video cameras were knocked to the ground. If that were true that would be rather stunning video - so why hasn't that film been produced? All we have is the security video that shows the Hasbara claims are a pure invention. These guys should be expelled.
This is true, I was present at the "incident". They were trying to provoke people, no one was assaulted.