The importance of discussion

Yesterday I went to a lecture by Norman Finkelstein on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Quite interesting. Jewish himself, he argues that every country in the world except for the US and Israël, agrees to the (every year again) proposed peace resolution in the UN, restoring the borders before the 1967 war. He therefore concludes that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not as complicated as it seems.
In the completely packed lecture hall, the majority was clearly pro-Palestinian. Everyone was deadly silent, except for laughing at the jokes. What a change however when after an hour and a half the word was given to an arts&cultures teacher who was gonna give a short commentary on the lecture. She was obviously trying to heat up the discussion. Not a bad plan since everyone was taking all the things Finkelstein said for granted. Too bad she was a bit of a chaotic speaker, and saying some things that obviously weren't true. (Never could any arts and cultures student convince me of anything, the way they talk annoys me a bit tbh. No real arguments). But the reaction of the public! People started talking, shouting even! Especially when the word "Islam" was used in not the most positive way, people started shouting and booing. Seriously.. It's a discussion people. If you are only there to hear what you want to hear and not really think about the fact that every story has two sides, what are you doing at a discussion night?
Strangely enough that reminded me of this discussion night we had with the Christian organisation MSVN, where some people also refused to discuss their believes and faith. As if they were saying, I believe in something, but I'm not sure what the reasons are or at least I don't want to discuss them. Isn't it always good to rethink about what you stand for? Don't take an initiative to discuss as an insult to your beliefs, but rather as an opportunity to explain what you stand for.
I really respected one of the guys in the audience who was Palestinian himself, saying (in response to the teacher) look I was there as well when the wall was build and some friends of mine were shot to death from that wall, so I don't agree to what you say about the wall only being a protection to terrorism. If even when you've experienced such horrible things and then you can still contain yourself and go into a discussion, respect!