St. Louis University students Nikolai Remizov and Alessandro Mattina are being disciplined by their school for posting a 9/11 memorial on campus that happens to refer to Israel.
Remizov, a senior from Russia, set up the exhibit with permission from the government. This included numerous American flags and banners marking the 9/11 memorial in New York and the 9/11 memorial in Israel.
“Everything has been approved,” Remizov told Breitbart News.
“We got 3,000 flags to show respect for the lives that were lost…We had a banner, and this banner had an American flag, and an Israeli flag as well. There was, and it showed the 9/11 memorial in New York and the only 9/11 memorial outside the United States is in Israel, so we showed it.
The 9/11 Memorial in Israel is the only such memorial outside the United States. (US Embassy in Jerusalem)
He said there was no other political intention.
“There was nothing about Israel and the Palestinians. It was just about the 9/11 memorial and the American and Israeli flags. … Nothing about Palestine or Gaza or anything like that.”
Nevertheless, anti-Israel students appear to have reported the 9/11 memorial to the government. Student newspaper too published An anti-Israel editorial that placed the word “Israel” in quotation marks as if to deny the legitimacy of the nation, and used profanity in the process of condemning Israel's “genocide” in Gaza.
The author of the op-ed objected to the phrase “tolerance to terrorism” that appeared on 9/11 banners.
Remizov and Mattina decided to remove the banner, but began receiving warnings from Saint Louis University authorities.
Remizov received an email in his inbox accusing him of violating university rules without explanation.
When he called the sender of the email, Remizov was told that the display violated rules against touching the university's physical infrastructure. He consulted a lawyer, but it turned out that no such rule existed.
As discussions with the administration continued, the explanation for what rules the exhibit violated continued to change.
He and Mattina ended up receiving warnings, which will be reflected in their permanent academic records.
“I want to cry, but I also want to laugh,” he says.
“People are starting to forget what terrorism is, that our country was attacked and 3,000 people died that day.”
“Everyone is shocked that the university made the decision to punish us for the 9/11 memorial.
“That's really crazy.”
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. he is the author of Agenda: What should President Trump do in his first 100 days?available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of Trumpian Virtues: Lessons and Legacy of the Donald Trump Presidencynow available on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
