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On Monday, Oct. 7, the anniversary of Hamas’ attacks on Israel and the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, Rowan Students for Justice in Palestine (Rowan SJP) held a protest at the owl statue.
The pro-Palestine protest lasted an hour and featured speeches from Rowan SJP E-board members, as well as Green Party candidate for House of Representatives Robin Brownfield, the only Jewish and female nominee in the state running. Signs saying “Free Palestine” and “It’s not a conflict, it’s genocide” were being waved as the protest crowd chanted and onlookers stood by.
Danyal Khan, the president of Rowan SJP, made a speech halfway through the protest.
“We’re preaching for peace,” Khan said. “We want men, women, and children to stop dying.”
Khan explained the club wanted to have their rights to speak respected and said to those that don’t agree, “You’re not our enemy. You’re our friends.”
Brownfield spoke next, laying out her plans if she were elected for the House of Representatives, in New Jersey’s first congressional district. Her platform is “against genocide,” and about “doing what’s right.”
The protestors continued chanting “Free Palestine” and “No more money for Israel’s crimes.” A few in the audience were unhappy with the rally.
Jack Speiser is a Jewish student.
“It’s to provoke us,” Speiser said. “If we counterprotest, we give them what they want.”
Given that it was the anniversary of the attack where Hamas militants killed 1,200 and took 250 hostages, according to Reuters, the timing of the protest was not lost on Rowan SPJ.
“We acknowledge that both sides suffered losses,” Khan said.
The protest was in the works for around a month, according to Khan and Vice President Kainat Adeel.
“This day recognizes it’s been exactly a year since Israel’s…retaliation,” Rowan SPJ events coordinator Selma Benkhoukha said, “It marks the ongoing genocide since the establishment of the Israeli state.”
It’s important to note that, according to Reuters, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is “considering a prosecution request for arrest warrants” for the Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes. Israel does face charges for alleged violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Israel was established in 1947 after the Holocaust and a long history of Zionist advocacy and eventually a treaty splitting then British-owned land into Israel and Palestine.
Zionism has another long history, but its core belief is “that the only solution to anti-Semitism is the concentration of as many Jews as possible in Palestine/Israel and the establishment of a Jewish state there,” according to the University of Michigan.
Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 brought quick counter-offensives in Gaza, and more recently in Lebanon. As the year anniversary hit, all parties were still trading fire.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, over 40,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis have been killed; and over 90,000 Palestinians and over 5,000 Israelis have been injured during the course of the war.
As chants echoed at Mediation Walk, one struck Jewish student Alex Milman as scary. “Resistance is justified.”
“[It] means October 7 was okay,” Milman said, saying the talk of wanting peace is “to cover up what they actually mean.”
Milman prayed during the protest, wearing Tefillin, a pair of black leather boxes attached with a strap, meant to bring the wearer closer to God.
“We’re not trying to go against anybody,” Adeel said, adding that anyone who disagrees with their message is “more than welcome to take action.”
Rowan University allowed the protest. Dr. Kevin Koett, Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students, was at the protest as part of the security and response team. The team keeps walkways clear at protests or other events, the ensure safety.
“We’re not trying to control content,” Koett said, adding everyone has “the right to freedom of speech and association.”
To end the event, Adeel made a short speech, alluding to more events in the future.
“Palestine isn’t the only place that is suffering,” Adeel said, “[the people] need a voice to speak out for them.”
The protest ended an hour and a half before Chabad’s memorial event in Pfleeger where they brought an Oct. 7 survivor, Avi Medina, to speak.
As a year passes since the beginning of the continuing Israel-Hamas war, so continue the fighting, death, and destruction surrounding the Middle East.
For comments/questions about this story DM us on Instagram @thewhitatrowan or email news@thewhitonline.com
Ryan • Oct 17, 2024 at 12:19 am
It’s a shame the whit didn’t take any time to interview one of the manny Jewish members of our student body who were attending the protest in support of Palestine, including members of our local south Jersey Jewish Voices For Peace chapter. The whit clearly has no interest in providing non-biased journalism or acutely representing the Jewish student body at Rowan. I hope next time all of our voices can be heard.
R • Oct 14, 2024 at 3:22 pm
This is RIDICULOUSLY biased.
L • Oct 11, 2024 at 8:07 am
There were other Jewish people in the SJP too, btw.
There was a girl who walked by chanting with us. Why didn’t you interview her???
L • Oct 11, 2024 at 7:25 am
You couldn’t have bothered to have spoke to others in the Pro Palestine side? You already stated Robin was there who IS JEWISH. There were others in that group. I had family who died in the Holocaust and I speak out against genocide because of them.
Also, as a journalist you are also supposed to do research. Maybe you would have found out that Article 1 subsection 4 of the Geneva Convention states that Hamas and the Palestinians have the right to resist.
You would also find in the Geneva convention Article 4 would have shown that Palestine is a protected party under it.