BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- On the second anniversary of Hamas' attack on Israel, pro-Palestinian students across U.S. campuses organized rallies demanding divestment from Israel and recognition of Palestine as an independent state.
- Rutgers University saw students accusing Israel of being an illegitimate regime, while Penn State activists called for awareness of their university's role in supporting oppression in Palestine.
- University of Maryland hosted a vigil for Gaza, where attendees expressed their emotions about the ongoing conflict, and criticized the security presence at their event as "dehumanizing."
This past Tuesday marked the second anniversary of Hamas’ deadly assault against Israel, which resulted in a two-year-long war … but which now may be at an end after the Trump administration assisted in brokering a peace deal.
But the Oct. 7, 2023 attack also resulted in far-left groups on American campuses holding innumerable rallies, building “occupations,” and encampments. They also harassed many of their Jewish and pro-Israel peers.
Seven hundred and thirty days haven’t dissuaded many of these activists. At Rutgers University on Tuesday, pro-Palestinian students rallied at Records Field to demand divestment from Israel and an end to the school’s partnership with Tel Aviv University.
The Daily Targum reports speakers called for a Palestine “to be recognized as an independent state through protests, artwork and news coverage,” “commended the crowd for building a coalition of resistance over the past two years,” and “accused Israel of being an illegitimate, apartheid regime that is trying to eliminate the Palestinian population.”
Over at Penn State University, activists carried placards reading “Death to the IOF” (Israeli Occupation Force) and “Glory to the Resistance” during the beginning of the Students for Justice in Palestine’s “Week of Action: For Gaza, We Rise.”
According to The Daily Collegian, the rally “carried both political and spiritual weight.”
Senior Amadou Ndiaye said Penn State was acting irresponsibly by “provid[ing] funds that increase oppression in Palestine.” He added “Seeing the children, the doctors — everyone being killed over there — it’s important that we stand together and fight this.”
SJP Treasurer Sergio Peña, a grad student studying communication and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, said PSU “has a much bigger stake in enabling Zionism and genocide than most people realize. That’s why we organize. To expose how institutions like ours contribute to this violence.”
And down at the University of Maryland, about 100 showed up at a McKeldin Mall vigil hosted by the Muslim Student Association where they “listened to speeches, prayed and held chants,” according to The Diamondback.
UMD Students for Justice in Palestine member Matt Foos said “he doesn’t have words left to describe the amount of rage, sadness and shock he feels every day seeing Israel’s offensive in Gaza.”
Foos participated in the creation of a banner which features the logos of companies that support Israel, such as McDonald’s and Amazon, along with the phrase “You buy, they pay.”
Muslim Student Association member Omar Tawfik complained about security on hand for the event, saying it was “dehumanizing” as UMD student activists “have always been peaceful.”
Fouad Ayoub, a Palestinian aerospace engineering grad student, agreed, saying the “security presence felt unnecessary and served as a ‘participant suppressant.’”
Professor Anny Gaul (pictured), a “cultural historian whose research and teaching interests lie at the intersections of food, gender, and culture in the Arabic-speaking world” according to her faculty page, held a “teach-in” about how “Israel has used starvation as a weapon of war against Palestine.”
“This phrase, ‘Starvation is a weapon of war’ has been repeated so many times that it begins to feel empty,” Gaul said. “But for Palestinians in Gaza, it’s their everyday reality.”
MORE: Rutgers likely operated ‘hostile environment’ for Jewish students, federal investigation finds
