An event Tuesday evening, featuring author Bat Ye’or and historian David Littman, offered a presentation entitled “The Ideology of Jihad, Dhimmitude and Human Rights,” which was planned to facilitate a dialogue on the plight of religious minorities in the Middle East.

But the presentation, sponsored by the Lecture Fund, the Jewish Students Association, Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and the Georgetown Israel Alliance, deviated from the planned topic, with the speakers instead discussing their own beliefs concerning Islam and its effect on religious minorities, organizers said.

“The speech was supposed to be about two experts in the area of jihad and what it is like to be a non-Muslim in the Middle East,” Director of Lecture Fund Media Relations Meghan Woodsome (COL ’05), said.

“We wanted an event that talked about authoritarian regimes and how they twist and distort Islam to justify repression against minorities. The information that [Ye’or and Littman] provided us with was about this topic, but their presentation wasn’t concerned at all with this,” Salomon Kalach-Zaga (COL ’03), director of communications for the Georgetown Israel Alliance, said.

“Instead, they ended up saying that there is an interpretation of Islam that justifies oppression. We had intended to have a presentation on the way in which Islam is distorted for political reasons, but the speakers made a religious attack on Islam,” he said.

Kalach-Zaga said he was very disappointed with the theme of the speech, while others were upset and angry. He said, “Many sponsors left the room and some were very angry. We apologized and explained that what had been presented was not what we had intended for them to speak about.”

“The speakers gave us certain ideas about what they would speak about so that they could get in the door, and once they were in, they gave a completely different idea of what we had wanted. It was two-faced and manipulative,” Kalach-Zaga said. “We in no way agree or support what was said, and regret that it happened entirely.”