Posted on 05/13/2024 1:57:24 AM PDT by Freeleesy
Ronn Torossian, Jews are not safe in New York State - at Syracuse U., INN, May 9, 2024
Our greatest nightmares as Jews are coming true. It is happening again. Op-ed.Ronn Torossian is an American public relations executive, and president, Syracuse Jewish Parents Council ...
On Saturday, on Holocaust Eve, a Jewish Syracuse U. student was beaten by a trespasser yelling “Heil Hitler” and no arrests were made. The day before, professors at the on-campus encampment distributed flyers saying, “Flood the Gates Escalate” and “We will not disavow any actions taken to escalate the struggle, including militant direct actions. We keep us (sic) safe by escalating.”
The Syracuse University Jewish community has pleaded for a meeting with Chancellor Kent Syverud and the Chief of Police since October 7th and has received no answer. Nothing. He hasn’t responded to thousands of letters, calls or emails. Nothing. Not to Rabbis, elected officials, students or anyone.
As the ADL noted when providing a grade C to Syracuse University, “a group of Syracuse students and parents submitted a report to the U.S. House of Representatives alleging the University is turning “a blind eye to antisemitism.” Since April’s report, Syracuse U has seen physical and verbal violence. Its dangerous to be there if you are Jewish.
Students are being threatened by people who walk the encampment fearlessly - not students, not professors – as professors, students and outside agitators have signs reading “Free Palestine”, and “From the River to The Sea.”
The encampments ignore October 7th. Its as if the mass murder, mutilation rape and torture of Jews and others never happened. The silence regarding the missing hostages is telling.
On Sunday, together with other parents and students - as the leader of the Syracuse Jewish Parents Council - which represents more than 450 Zionist families involved with Syracuse University, we demanded – rather than pleaded – for a meeting with the Chancellor and chief of police.
They refused.
And I, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, at my child's university, I was arrested for non-violent civil disobedience for refusing to leave the encampment. I am proud to have raised a voice of moral consciousness and stand against hatred and I urge others to do the same. Stand up and speak up much louder.
The 90 minute detainment came after I demanded the Chancellor and Chief of Police meet with the Jewish community. We continue to stand on that demand.
There was no physical contact of any sort, and I - who employ countless Syracuse graduates - was removed from the University while pro-Hamas, anti-American trespassers remain in illegal tents on a campus where one pays $80K for tuition.
I removed a sign which read “Free Palestine” as I asked a green and blue haired 40-something-year-old individual where I, an American-Israeli Jew should go when they “Free Palestine”, as Jews are murdered and killed in "Palestine." No response.
These are signs calling for violence against our people. This is not a peaceful protest. It is beyond unfortunate that Syracuse University has chosen to appease anti-Semitic, anti-America terror supporters.
______
Katherine Rosman, Ronn Torossian, an NYC Executive, Arrested After Confrontation at Syracuse Campus Protest, NYT, May 10, 2024
Ronn Torossian, an associate of Mayor Eric Adams, said he was protesting what he sees as Syracuse University’s inadequate response to antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack.Ronn Torossian, a New York City public relations executive and an associate of Mayor Eric Adams, was arrested last weekend at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus of Syracuse University, where he and other parents were protesting what he described as the school’s inaction toward student safety issues, including violence and antisemitism.
Mr. Torossian, who is Jewish and the parent of a Syracuse student, confronted a student protester who had a sign that said, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free.” University officials described him as “especially aggressive” toward students. When Mr. Torossian refused to leave, campus security arrested him.
“Harassing behavior or conduct from anyone that creates a safety concern will not be tolerated,” the university said in a statement about the episode.
The arrest followed an off-campus incident the day before involving a pro-Palestinian protester who the school says was not a Syracuse University student. The protester said “Heil Hitler” as he made a Nazi salute at a Jewish student and then punched the student in the face, according to a police report and an email from university officials.
The assault on the Jewish student and Mr. Torossian’s arrest reflect the increasingly murky situations around the country that university administrators, students and parents are trying to navigate as lingering protests draw students and non-students alike, at locations both on and nearby campus.
Mr. Torossian, who helped organize fund-raising events for Mr. Adams’s election campaign, said he and other Jewish parents have been exasperated that the university chancellor has declined to meet with a group of concerned Jewish parents since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.
“The university has not taken any action,” Mr. Torossian said in a phone interview, “so a group of us went to raise a voice of nonviolent civil disobedience.”
The off-campus incident last Saturday began when a group of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at Walnut Park in Syracuse, located near the university campus, according to accounts by two witnesses, the parents of the Jewish student, a Syracuse Police Department report and statements issued by the university.
The protesters, who included Syracuse University students and others who were not affiliated with the school, walked from Walnut Park to the encampment on campus and then returned to the park.
The park is adjacent to several fraternity houses, including a Jewish fraternity, where members had gathered on their porch and were playing the Israeli and American national anthems at top volume.
As the rally disbanded, a protester walked to the edge of the park, directly across the street from the fraternity and extended his arm in the gesture of the Nazi salute. A few Jewish students walked toward the protester to confront him, according to the police report. The protester then punched one of the Jewish students in the face. Amid the fracas, the assailant left.
Mr. Torossian said the school should be addressing the matter as an incident of antisemitism.
Jeff Stoecker, Syracuse University’s chief communications officer, said the university has no jurisdiction to get involved in incidents that occur off-campus..
The next day, Mr. Torossian and two other parents arrived on campus and demanded a meeting with Kent Syverud, the chancellor and president of the university. For months, Mr. Torossian said, he and other members of Syracuse Jewish Parents Council have sought meetings with Mr. Syverud.
Mr. Stoecker said the university does not recognize the group as having an “official affiliation” to Syracuse and said that school leaders have had “daily communication” with parents and families since Oct. 7, including phone calls, emails and Zoom sessions. The school’s Hillel chapter, a campus organization for Jewish students, hosted a Zoom session with about 400 parents, he said...
Mr. Torossian’s arrest at the student encampment last Sunday was first reported by The Daily Orange, the Syracuse student newspaper.
School security officials asked Mr. Torossian to leave, but he refused. He said he pointed to another man at the encampment whom he identified as a man not affiliated with the university who had been jailed years ago for manslaughter.
“Why am I being told to leave when a convicted felon is allowed to be on the premises?” Mr. Torossian said he asked campus security officers..
Mr. Torossian was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing. A few days later, a school spokesman said, “we informed the student protesters that non-affiliates of the university would no longer be permitted on our campus as part of their protest.”
By Thursday, politicians were weighing in. Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, tweeted: “Now we’ve got convicted killers on the loose in these encampments. Jail the lawbreakers. Expel the students. Deport the illegals. Send in the Guard.”
On Friday, the man Mr. Torossian had pointed to was again seen at the encampment and was arrested on charges of trespassing, Mr. Stoecker said.
______
Yes. @syracuseu has had a convicted killer and a Hitler lover at the encampment. Who knows who else? Today for Mother’s Day was an event honoring #hamas #martyrs https://t.co/4tARUxcWXz pic.twitter.com/uYKlTcg72j
— Ronn Torossian (@RTorossian5wpr) May 12, 2024
Talk about cultural appropriation. Who do these Democrats think they are.
Time for the Jews to start fighting back.
Yes. They keep talking about an event of 2017 at Charlottesville while nazism is today on the radical left and mainstream Arab-Muslim culture.
And if he yelled "Hey N****r" and assaulted a black person, all hell would break loose. The police would scan everywhere to locate the perp. They would be charged with a hate crime. They would receive the harshest sentence.
And if leaflets were distributed calling for the removal of blacks from the campus, everyone involved would be expelled and again, hate crime charges.
Whaaaa?
Syracuse’s most famous alum is Joe Biden. When is he going to speak out?
Interestingly, there is a mosque directly abutting the campus. Cross the street from it and you are on the campus.
I always wondered what was buried in the basement of that place.
It’s a shame SU has deteriorated to that extent. There have been many good people that I know who attended there in the past and worked there. I’m sure they are appalled by this.
Sadly American Jews are very anti-gun. Think Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders, Barbra Boxer, and Dianne Feinstein. I remember back in the 1980s when the Brady Bunch thought they could get tough gun laws in Florida because of so many NY Jews moving there. They failed.
They may need the guns in the future to defend themselves against the mad dog socialists they have allowed to run loose in the US.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
