London- Accompanied by a field correspondent from the British channel “GBN”, former British Interior Minister Suella Braverman walked towards the Cambridge University sit-in, in what she said was an attempt to survey the opinions of the protesters and broadcast their views in a live interview.
Braverman received nothing but silence from the protesters, despite the questions she posed to the demonstrators in an attempt to interrogate them, but the silence alone, along with the protesters staring at her, were the two most prominent features in the responses she received.
On the same day, correspondent Patrick Christie returned to the channel’s headquarters to be an anchor, and Suela returned with him to be an interviewer, but this time with student Fiona Lally, the National Campaigns Coordinator of the Revolutionary Communist Party.
It is noteworthy that the issue of student demonstrations and sit-ins in support of Palestine was a key factor in Braverman’s dismissal from her position in the government of current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, after she criticized the British police and accused them of being too lenient with the pro-Palestine demonstrators.
Embarrassing the former minister
The meeting was remarkable in its usual form. In talk shows, or those that take the form of a debate, the program is usually based on a main interviewer, who asks questions and organizes the answering process, ensuring that the number of minutes is balanced and that one of the guests does not unfairly affect the other. But this meeting took a different turn. Perhaps due to the “stature” of the guest who played the role of the interviewer, the former Minister of Interior, as opposed to the “weight” of the guest.
The meeting lasted approximately 18 minutes, during which the dialogue took a side in which the questions seemed completely separate from the questions generated from the discussion, tending toward “canned” or pre-memorized questions. What proved this was the first question that Swella asked, and then the questions that followed.
Braverman asked her first question to the student, Lali, which is a question that is easy for anyone who follows Western media to expect: “What do you think about what happened on October 7th?”
The student responded that what happened did not begin on October 7, and stated that several days ago, students were in sit-ins commemorating the Palestinian Nakba, which is a symbol of what Israel has been doing during the previous 76 years.
Lali blamed Braverman for opening the conversation with this question, and described it as “an indication of extreme deception” on her part, and said, “Honestly, I think it is a great thing that happened today, with you going to the sit-in and trying to talk to these people, as you were insulting yourself while trying to do something.” “With this matter.”
Lali considered that what happened was a reminder to everyone of what happened with the former minister, considering that “the Palestinian movement was a major reason for her downfall,” referring to the end of her service as Minister of the Interior last November, and she stressed that this movement is capable of overthrowing a number of others. From the ministers and even the government, in addition to any party that supports what Israel is doing today in the Gaza Strip.
Then the former Minister of the Interior asked her second question, which was not related to Lali’s answers, but rather came in the form, “So you are saying that the sit-in camps are separate from what happened on the seventh of October, or from the Israeli response to what happened on the same day?”
“Actually, the only thing that is separate is your perspective and your attitude towards what is going on,” Lally responded to the question, adding that the student demonstrators’ position is directly related to the events taking place in Gaza, and they are doing what they can to stop universities from spending nearly £450 million on Israeli forces. Instead of investing in education or what should be invested in it.
Lali addressed Braverman, saying that she and her government are separate from what the majority of the British people want. The people want to stop the war in Gaza, while they want to send more weapons to the Israeli army.
Braverman soon returned to her canned questions and said, “What is your view of Hamas?”, to which Lali responded by refusing to talk about Hamas, considering that the former minister’s motive for asking about it was her desire to send more financial support to Israel, and to increase spending on the military budget, while she did not. Spending on basic issues, such as education, is being increased. “Actually, I am not here to talk about Hamas, because I have no connection to it,” she said.
Cambridge sit-in
Returning to the scene that preceded the interview, field correspondent Patrick Christie asked the former minister before she passed by the protesters what prompted her to come to the sit-in site. She replied that she was a student at Cambridge University 20 years ago, so this visit holds an aspect of memory for her.
Braverman considered that she saw “an extremist group trying to monopolize public discourse,” as she described it, in reference to supporters of Palestine, “versus another group that must remain silent,” by which she meant supporters of Israel.
She also indicated, in a way that showed neutrality, that she came to learn and listen to the other point of view, and that she came to give the students an opportunity to deliver their message, and that she presented with a sincere intention for the debate and not to create a verbal battle, and she did not forget to express her surprise that the university still allowed this sit-in to be held, as She told the British channel’s correspondent.
This “neutrality” began to gradually disappear when the former minister began passing by the students staying at their sit-in, when she asked her questions about what the Western press was accustomed to asking about, and these were the same questions that she asked the student Lali later that same day, such as, “What do you think of what Hamas did?” On the 7th of October?” and “Do you see what is really happening naturally to Israel’s self-defense?”
The students ignored all the questions asked of them, which were not without provocation, such as her question, “Why are you wearing masks? Is it because of Corona or for other reasons?” And with this silence, Braverman began to express her astonishment.
It should be noted that the protesting students adopted the method of limiting the response to the media by “media trainers”, in order to limit the ability of the media outlets to distort the demonstrations and the individuals present in them, according to what those in charge of the sit-ins see, and this is what appeared in the response of university students.” Cambridge” for their attempts to interrogate them and lure them into the media dialogue, so, it was Lali who went to participate in the interview with the British channel.
Expected position
The biography of former Interior Minister Suella Braverman, who belongs to the Conservative Party, known for its positions in support of Israel, reveals her position towards what she calls the “Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” In October 2023, Braverman directly condemned what Hamas did, and expressed her support for Israel.
Although Braverman agreed with many Britons on this, she did not stop there, as she called for legislation criminalizing boycotts of Israel, considering that “Israel is a beacon of democracy in the Middle East, and defending it is not part of the culture wars, but rather it is a symbol of defending humanity.” “.
The former minister did not hide her continued criticism of those who demonstrate against what Israel is doing in Gaza, and she also urged the British police to take action regarding any attempts by the demonstrators to harass members of the Jewish community, in an attempt to distort the demonstrators who support stopping the war and holding Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinians. Considering that it represents “sowing the seeds of hatred.”
Her position also became clearer when, while walking next to the university, she described what is happening today as “Israel’s right to defend itself against the brutal Hamas,” which brings back memory of her position when she visited Israel last April, that is, 6 months after the war on Gaza. The death toll exceeded more than 30,000.