Tension between certain Muslim and Jewish students on campus heated up Wednesday night at a Muslim Student Association event concerning the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, according to guest lecturer Hatem Bazian from UC Berkeley.

During the meeting, a group of students from the San Diego Israel Public Affairs Committee, a Jewish political group on campus, posted flyers outside Center Hall where the group was meeting. The flyers read, “”Hatem Baziam: Jew-Hater? You decide.””

The flyers also had a quote from Bazian as quoted by Steven Emmerson in his book “”American Jihad.”” Excerpts from the quote read, “”‘In the Hidith, the Day of Judgment will never happen until you fight the Jews … and the stones will say, ‘Oh Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him!'””

Following the posting of the flyers, several students from the MSA began to tear them down. The students from SANDIPAC continued posting and eventually left the premises after throwing their remaining flyers on the ground, according to Nelly Salem, a junior and member of the MSA, .

After the event, students from the MSA expressed their concern and offense over the posted flyers. Salem explained her account of the occurrence.

“”I came outside and there was a hundred of the flyers on the floor. They were spreading them like confetti,”” Salem said. “”I said, ‘You’re spreading hate.'””

President of SANDIPAC and John Muir College senior Shira Landu defended Emmerson.

“”It’s not that Emmerson is anti-Arab,”” Landu said. “”He is very familiar with Arab groups within the United States. When he talks of Muslim leaders it’s not as if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.””

Another member of the MSA saw the flyers as a disruption of campus unity. MSA President Ahmed Salem expressed frustration.

“”What happened Wednesday night was just inappropriate,”” Salem said. “”There is no reason for personal attacks or posting flyers that attack a certain person or organization. Certain people that were complaining about someone putting up flyers against them have done the exact same thing.””

Landu believed that their method was the only one acceptable given the circumstances.

“”Jewish students know before they go into this MSA meeting that any questions that we ask will just turn into an opportunity for him to spew his rhetoric,”” Landu said. “”And so we felt that the only way to make people question what they hear was to question the credibility of the speaker.””

Landu said that students in SANDIPAC posted flyers earlier that morning but the flyers were all torn down. The students came to Landu. Landu encouraged them to place the flyers at the meeting so that those in attendance could hear their opinions.

Another MSA student, Amir Fahid, saw the flyers as a disruption of campus unity.

“”One of the members of the club that was here wrote an article in the [opinion] section of the Guardian saying that our president does not want to cooperate with other clubs,”” Fahid said, “”while this guy is passing out flyers that call us Jew-haters.””

Fahid was referring to a letter to the editor in the Guardian, published on April 22 and submitted by Union of Jewish Students member and head of the Unified Campus Coalition Brian Brook. Although Brook denied involvement in the creation or distributing of the flyers, he defended the actions of those who did the posting.

Brook said that he had been attempting with cofounder of the UCC Nema Milaninia to bring unity between Muslim and Jewish students on campus. Brook saw the MSA events during the week titled “”From Liberation to Oppression”” as divisive of campus unity.

“”How are they promoting unity by bringing such a person here?”” Brook said.

Brook cited Israel Week as an attempt at unity.

“”Israel Week was about hope for the future in the Middle East,”” Brook said. “”This week, by contrast, was about assigning blame, spreading lies and half-truths and fostering an environment where students feel attacked. I don’t think there is anything this year that has contributed more to the disruption of unity on campus.””

Although there was controversy surrounding the night, many see the dialogue as healthy.

Nicholas Aguilar, UCSD director of student policies and judicial affairs, was at the meeting and praised the night’s events.

“”This event was well-done,”” Aguilar said. “”It presented information that was obviously controversial, but it was well in the bounds of acceptable discourse at UCSD.””