On Oct. 19, Jewish Life at Oswego hosted an on-campus “Vigil for Israel” meant to unify students during a time of international conflict and share words of comfort to those affected by the ongoing situation. Speakers at the vigil included Jewish Life president Feiga Khutoretsky, Rabbi Yossi Madvig and Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow. While the Jewish population at Oswego can bank on the support of prominent figureheads such as Barlow and an entire university organization, those supporting or aligning with a Palestinian identity have little representation to follow at the institution.
The vigil attracted a moderate crowd of silent observers, allowing the organizers to lead participants in prayer and acknowledging the violence Israeli Jews have faced in the past weeks following Hamas’ latest attack. Of those in attendance, only one student, Natalya Kelly, came in recognition of Palestine’s current state of affairs.
Standing in plain view of the speaker’s podium, Kelly raised a homemade “Free Palestine” poster once speeches began. Although the counter-demonstration remained peaceful throughout the entire event, Kelly raised her sign even higher when Mayor Barlow shared a few words to the student body.
“It’s nice to see, and it makes me proud to see, SUNY Oswego, when you watch the news, you see these protests and so called rallies and so on on various campuses where they have a real warped, in my opinion, view of the events that took place, where they’re defending Hamas and Palestine and so on,” Barlow said. “And it’s nice to see that that isn’t happening here, and that we are here tonight standing on the right side of history… Tonight just goes to show that while Oswego was on the right side of history during World War II in the 1940s, we stand here tonight on the right side of history again, standing for Jewish people all around the world.”
While Barlow’s support goes a long way in comforting Jewish individuals affected by the conflict, Kelly believed that Palestinians deserved an equal level of support as well.
“This was a unity vigil for Israel, and Israel as a state wasn’t always Israel; it was Palestine before it was Israel,” Kelly said. “I felt like we should kind of understand that and understand that Palestinian people; their voices need to be heard as well. They need to be understood, and they need to be cared about, because this is not a one-sided war. I feel since Palestinian people do not have the money, the international… and local support from people everywhere, it’s harder for their voices to be heard and their stories to be heard, even though they have been hurting just as much as the Jewish people.”
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has seen a strenuous history of violence, displacement and political debate that has once again erupted in warfare. On Oct. 7, the Hamas militant group, acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (“Islamic Resistance Movement”) launched a surprise missile bombardment at the West Bank, killing hundreds of Israeli civilians. Israel has since responded by implementing a resource blockade around the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is centered, and declaring war on the group.
Scrutiny by the never-ending media coverage has resulted in negative externalities, the most prominent being the claim that Hamas “beheaded forty babies” in the beginning of its offensive. Although American news outlets and President Joe Biden repeated this claim, the Israeli government has recently backtracked, stating, “There have been cases of Hamas militants carrying out beheadings and other ISIS-style atrocities. However, we cannot confirm if the victims were men or women, soldiers or civilians, adults or children” per CNN.
“I think there’s been a lot of misinformation that people are really seeing and then they’re not looking twice,” Kelly said. “They’re just like, ‘Oh, that’s bad.’ But we really need to look into it and look at the statistics, but I think it’s hard for people because Jewish people have been so oppressed for so long that it’s like, it’s almost like anything that you say can come off as anti-semitic, even though you’re really not fighting against the Jewish people. You’re fighting against the colonist government.”
This demonization of Palestine has resonated with the general public and has tagged itself to the portrayal of the Arab state. Representation on campus for these demographics is thus limited to a handful of students.
Regardless of which country fired the first shot or rocket, the main victims of this conflict have always been the civilians caught in the crossfire, placed under the media spotlight while being listed as collateral damage by the fighting Middle Eastern governments. It is critical to recognize that although history may be a complex web of truth and lies, the lives lost to this conflict are objectively the most tragic consequence of this large-scale violence.
As the Isreal-Hamas war continues to unravel, death and injury statistics have skyrocked. According to an Oct. 23 article by the United Nations, “The number of people killed in Gaza has exceeded 5,000 according to latest reports… amid intensifying Israeli airstrikes in response to Hamas attacks.”
“Women and children have made up more than 62 per cent of the fatalities, while more than 15,273 people have been injured,” the UN published.
Photo by: Evan Youngs
