Oct.7 kicked off a week of nationwide student protests over the Israel-Palestine conflict, with rallies and vigils being held by supporters on both sides. The one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel, which since mushroomed into a war claiming thousands of lives, respectively, serves as a grim reminder of the persisting violence in the Middle East and the failure of the United States to find a resolution.
Although the U.S. is more than 6,000 miles removed from the conflict, it has become increasingly involved on Israel’s side. Since the initial attack on Oct. 7, 2023, the U.S. has provided Israel with at least $12.5 billion in military aid, an advanced missile defense system, and about 100 American troops. The Biden administration has also sponsored humanitarian efforts in Gaza, where the majority of the fighting has taken place, but remains publicly on the side of Israel.
American citizens are split on the conflict, especially along generational lines. A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 31% of U.S. adults sympathized more with Israel, and 16% sympathized more with Palestine. However, of young adults ages 18-29, 33% sympathized more with Palestine, and 14% sympathized more with Israel — a near antithesis to the overall adult sentiment.
These figures reflect a growing support for Palestine among American youths, evidenced by the wave of pro-Palestine protests that swept college campuses the week of Oct. 7. From the Ivy League to the Southeastern Conference, students across the nation called for the liberation of Palestine and the dissolution of Israel, while also demanding their schools divest from companies related to or owned by the Jewish state.
Boston University was among the colleges to experience rallies in support of Palestine. The University’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a national college organization advocating for the rights of the Palestinian people, called on its members to participate in a “week of rage”. The week of rage, which was a fixture of SJP chapters across the United States, aimed to mourn and condemn a year of conflict through events such as a community vigil and prayer. The club also held a name-writing service honoring Palestinian casualties — referred to as “martyrs” — on a roll of paper that ended up spanning over 10 yards.
The week of rage culminated on Friday in a rally organized by SJP. Clad in keffiyehs, facemasks and other identity-obscuring accessories, student protestors took to the streets with signs and chants of, “Free Palestine.” The students picketed for about an hour outside of BU’s administrative buildings, calling for the University to “disclose and divest from apartheid profiteers”.
Some BU students felt the SJP demonstrations were overly bold and disruptive. However, Cassie, a student present at the protest who declined to share her last name, said being bold was the point.
“When it comes to things like this, there are times when civil disobedience is the only option left,” Cassie said. “The way to make real, serious change is to be such a pain in the a— for people in power that they have to make the change, to force their hand.”
However, Cassie clarified that disruption was only the intention of the rally on Friday, not the other events of the week. The vigil, in contrast, was dedicated to “mourning and to paying respect”, which she said she believed helped “build community and solidarity.”
“People came [to the vigil] who might not have come to a more inflammatory event,” Cassie said. “We reached community members that I don’t think we would have reached otherwise, and I think that was really valuable.”
Amid the surge of protests and vigils in support of Palestine, there were ones for Israel as well. Across the nation, pro-Israel college organizations solemnly mourned the lives lost during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. BU Hillel, a Jewish student organization, collaborated with BU Students for Israel to hold a memorial for the Israeli victims and hostages at the University on Oct. 7 that lasted the entire day.
Shayna Dash, president of BUSI, said the organization had very specific goals for the memorial.
“We wanted to create conversation and community, and [let people know] that it’s okay to have feelings of sadness,” Dash said. “We have to remember, because we can’t ever forget this tragedy that happened to the innocent Jewish people.”
Dash said the BU SJP rally was “disheartening and saddening” for the Jewish community on campus. The protest coincided with the first night of Yom Kippur.
“This is our holiest holiday of the entire year, and we have one place in the entire campus that welcomes us for who we are,” Dash said, referring to BU’s Hillel. “That intentional hatred is just really hurtful for us.”
Despite the tension between the two sets of demonstrators, Oct. 7 commemoration events at BU remained peaceful throughout the week. This posed a stark contrast to other colleges across the U.S., which found their campuses subject to hate crimes, vandalism and incidences of both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
For instance, at the University of Michigan, the president and the chief investment officer had their houses spray-painted with the words “intifada,” “coward” and other anti-Israel messages. A similarly tense situation occurred at Columbia University, when a pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel activist group organized side-by-side protests. The two groups later collided in the streets, each attempting to drown out the noise of the other.
“Let us mourn in peace,” the pro-Israel students cried.
“End the genocide,” the pro-Palestinian students cried back.
Columbia is no stranger to emotionally charged demonstrations, having become a focal point of student activism over the course of the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, as the fighting stretches on and both sides’ death tolls continue to rise, it would not be surprising to see an escalation in student protests across the U.S.
History bears witness to what young people can accomplish when they set their minds to something: the Greensboro Sit-Ins and Vietnam War protests, for instance, are among the most famous demonstrations of that power. Perhaps, once more, it will take the mobilization of students to engender results within their government, and to put an end to the violence that has persisted for too long.
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