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Pouneh Behin, co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine, raises her hand in a discussion of

Students for Justice in Palestine hosted a roundtable discussion Wednesday about a documentary on Islamic radicalism shown recently at a Students for Peace and Justice event.

The documentary, “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” was about militant Islamic extremism in the Middle East, according to Daily Bruin archives.

Students from both groups, the Muslim Student Association and Bruins for Israel, attended the event and discussed their views on the documentary and previous events held by each group.

Linda Khoury, member of Students for Justice in Palestine and the moderator of the event, said the event was planned in order to discuss the problems that SJP had with the film in terms of its portrayal of Islam.

“We don’t deny or accept extremism in any way or form but we do demand that they analyze the issues in a scholarly manner,” Khoury said during opening comments.

Leeron Morad, President of Bruins for Israel, said the purpose of the film was not to be scholarly but to expose certain issues about radicalism.

Another concern discussed was that the film was shown during Islamic Awareness Week on campus. Khalid Hussein, co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine, said he felt it was inappropriate to show the documentary during that week.

Trevor Klitofsky, the Students for Justice and Peace member who organized the screening, said the timing was coincidental.

Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, the director of Hillel at UCLA, asked students on both sides to use an educational approach when dealing with these issues rather than pushing each side’s agenda with propaganda.

“I think that both of us in the Jewish and Muslim community are afflicted with the problem of propaganda,” said Seidler-Feller. “This movie was a typical, classical attempt to manipulate people. Is it possible for us to advocate on behalf of our causes but do so in an educational mode?”

Both the Jewish student groups as well as the Muslim student groups admitted that they have made mistakes in the past in regards to the content and speakers of their events.

Mistakes that were discussed included the misrepresentation of Nonie Darwish, featured in the film, as the daughter of a Palestinian terrorist, when in fact it was an Egyptian officer. Hussein said this mistake was a problem because it allowed for terms like “Palestinian,” “Islam” and “suicide bomber” to be used as if they were one in the same. Morad acknowledged the mistake and said that it should have been caught and fixed.

An event which Seidler-Feller said offended many Jewish students on campus was the appearance of Amir Abdel Malik Ali, an outspoken anti-Semitic Muslim, at a Muslim Student Association event. Norah Sarsour, a Muslim Student Association board member, agreed that Malik Ali’s appearance was inappropriate.

At the meeting, Morad proposed that SJP co-sponsor an event with Bruins for Israel in order to show that both Palestinians and Israelis want peace, Morad said.