Chicago, IL – Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at DePaul University held a fundraiser for Rasmea Odeh here, Feb. 3, with over 200 in attendance. Speaker after speaker rose to declare their support for Chicago’s legendary Palestinian woman activist. Odeh, who survived brutal torture and rape at the hands of Israeli prison guards, was put on trial by the U.S. Attorney in Detroit. She faces 10 years of prison and deportation at her March 12 sentencing hearing, for failing to reveal her 1969 conviction in an illegal, Israeli military court, when she applied for citizenship in the U.S.

The SJP event became the center of a media storm and a controversy with DePaul’s administration when the Zionist Organization of America vilified Odeh and her student supporters. Performing at the dinner, Amir Zahr, a well-known Palestinian comic, drew laughs and applause when he scoffed at the small group of racist Zionists outside with signs against Odeh, stating “Remember when we were the counter-protesters and nobody would listen to us. How things have changed!”

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