Nearly seventy people attended the foreign policy lecture given by CODEPINK co-director Ariel Gold on Tuesday, looking forward to gaining more insight into how foreign policy will affect the 2020 election.
Ariel Gold is a political activist, and her organization, CODEPINK, is a female-based activism group seeking to end war around the world. The organization promotes channeling feminine bravery into calls for compassion and peace.
Gold explained how sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States disproportionately affect the poor in Iran. She also called for the United States to stop supplying Israel and Saudi Arabia weapons, citing the military-industrial complex as a waste of tax dollars.
“When Trump came in, cozying up with Saudi Arabia, selling them more weapons to bomb Yemen… cozying up with Israel, driving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as far backwards as possible… [he] tore up the nuclear deal, and in 2018 began to reimpose sanctions [on Iran].”
Gold says the United States weapon industry makes millions of dollars off of supplying middle eastern countries with weapons to fight what she calls “pointless wars.” Gold, who calls for peace in the middle east, also condemned Israel’s actions in the ongoing conflict with Palestinians in the West Bank. She told the audience about the time she got arrested for physically blocking the entrance to The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Annual Conference, and why she did it.
“These are not my Jewish values. AIPAC does not represent me.”
The lecture got contentious when the audience began asking questions. Gold and a community member, Gary Adler, argued about the Israel-Palestine conflict in Gaza. Adler pointed out that the Palestinians have also attacked the Israelis.
“It is a terrible conflict, but there is blame on both sides. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not defending anybody.”
Gold responded to Adler, saying the war in Gaza is unnecessary.
Adler later spoke out about Gold’s presentation on the Israeli-Palestine conflict, saying “I feel [Ariel Gold] does a disservice to the Jewish community, to the general public and to the Hofstra students attending the lecture, by only telling half of the story – and with a bias.”
Another audience member rebutted a statement Gold made earlier in the lecture when she said, “I’m no fan of any general,” pointing out that General Dwight Eisenhower coined the term “military-industrial complex.”
Gold responded, saying, “What I said was that I don’t like the work of a general… I am never a fan of the work of a general while they’re a general because they’re in the business of war, and that’s not my business.”
Many people found Gold’s lecture unfairly biased, antisemitic, and several students criticized Goldman’s responses to their questions.
“At one point the moderator began ripping the microphones out of our hands,” says Leilah Abelman, a junior political science major. “It gives us the impression that we can only voice our opinions if they’re the right opinions.”
