Hundreds of Muslims gathered to pray and hear a speech about Israel's war in Gaza on Ohio State's South Oval Friday afternoon.
Organizers of the event set up tarps for the worshippers to sit on and loudspeakers that boomed across the South Oval. Dr. Yasir Qadhi, a Texas Islamic scholar and Sheikh, was the main speaker and led the men and women in prayer.
The speech was a rallying cry after police have arrested hundreds of protestors and students on college campuses across America. Qadhi stood just yards from where Ohio State University police and Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers arrested dozens last week.
Qadhi condemned the crackdown on the protest, but largely didn't speak about the events at OSU. He put the focus on the larger context with Israel's war in Gaza and on the wider protests across the United States calling for a ceasefire in that war.
"We are gathered here today to protest against how our own country is attempting to silence our voices. The brutality of sending the state troopers against students across this country," Qadhi said.
He also criticized a bill making its way through the U.S. Congress that would redefine anti-Semitism in relation to the country's hate speech laws. The bill defines anti-Semitism as "a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews" and gives examples of the definition's application, which includes "accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group" and making "dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective."
Critics like Qadhi and the 70 Democrats who voted against the legislation argue it could curb free speech when people criticize the country of Israel. Only one Ohio Congress member voted against the bill, Republican U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson.
The bill passed with bipartisan votes in the U.S. House this week and awaits a vote in the U.S. Senate.
Qadhi said condemning Israel should not be equated with hating Jews and went on to accuse Israel of being an apartheid state, colonialist, elitist and a racist nation state towards Palestinians.
"There is nothing anti-Semitic about criticizing policies of a nation state, just like we as Muslims can criticize aspects of the Taliban, aspects of the Middle Eastern tyranny regimes. And we are not being Islamophobic. We're pointing out injustices in Muslim lands," Qadhi said.
The event lasted about 30 minutes in total before the people attending the gathering left the South Oval just after 2 p.m.
University spokesman Ben Johnson said the prayer wasn't a scheduled event, but the university was in contact with organizers about what was happening.
A few OSU police officers stood by during the event.
