WASHINGTON ÷ The Jewish Student Association and Georgetown Israel Alliance staged a rally last night in Red Square to protest allegedly anti-Semitic remarks made on campus by guest speaker Norman Finkelstein and abroad by university professor emeritus Hisham Shirabi.

The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, the Program on Justice and Peace and the Young Arab Leadership Association sponsored an event last Monday in which controversial author Norman Finkelstein drew comparisons between Hitler's policy toward Jews during the Second World War and Israel's opinion of the Palestinians. He also asserted that Israel has repeatedly attacked Palestinians in order to evoke a violent reaction, thus having reason to continue conflict and fulfill its goal of creating a completely Jewish state in Israel and Palestine.

In a related incident last week, Georgetown professor emeritus of Arab Culture Hisham Sharabi made allegedly anti-Semitic remarks during a lecture at Balamand University in Lebanon. According to the Nov. 20 issue of Lebanon's Daily Star, Sharabi told students and faculty that "Jews are getting ready to take control of us and the Americans have entered the region to possess the oil resources and redraw the geopolitical map of the Arab world." Sharabi is currently abroad in Beirut and was unable to be reached to confirm or deny this report.

Immediately following this incident, the American Jewish Committee issued a press release "strongly condemn(ing) the anti-Semitic remarks" of Sharabi.