Ohio University Student Senate President Turns “Ice Bucket Challenge” Into Bloody Anti-Israel Demonstration

There’s already been lots of chatter on the web about how the “Ice Bucket Challenge” has been taken over by people whose last intention is to raise awareness for ALS. Most of the criticism has centered on videos featuring shameless attention whores seeking 15 minutes of e-fame. But none have been as tacky and shameful as the video put out by my alma mater’s Student Senate president, Megan Marzec. Marzec accepted a challenge from Ohio University President Roderick McDavis…and then turned it into a gory anti-Israel statement complete with fake blood.

 Needless to say, she never got around to mentioning ALS.

Megan Marzec, a senior at OU, accepted the charge from OU President Roderick McDavis to participate in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge; but instead of dumping a bucket of ice water over her head, she doused herself in “blood.”

“I’m sending a message of student concern of the genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli state,” she says in the video. “I’m urging you, and OU, to divest and cut all ties with academic and other Israeli businesses and institutions. This bucket of blood symbolizes the thousands of displaced and murdered Palestinians, atrocities which OU is directly complacent in through cultural and economic support of the Israeli state.”

After dumping the “blood”—which apparently was just tomato juice, water, and red paint—over her head, Marzec’s video cuts to a screen which says “Free Palestine” and encourages viewers to email her to bring the BDS movement to OU.

Since Marzec’s video, the student senate has since issued a public apology on its Twitter account.

She also didn’t have the guts to stand by the video, and quickly set it to private after being criticized. Look, Ms. Marzec, participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge for the sole purpose of saying “Look at me!” is one thing. Hijacking it to call attention to your pet political issue – which has absolutely nothing to do with ALS – is much, much worse. It’s a slap in the face to anyone who has actually invested time, money and effort into ALS research and awareness, by stealing their idea and making it All About You. You should be ashamed.

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