Story by Ally Henson
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—The recent escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza has heightened tensions on college campuses throughout the United States, evoking reactions ranging from classroom discussions to angry confrontational protests.
Both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian students are actively participating in this dialogue, both online and through physical gatherings. Student groups have held vigils and protests, which in some cases have led to direct confrontations between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups.
On Oct. 12, students in support of Palestine and students in support of Israel faced off at the steps of Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Both groups waved their flags, chanted and yelled at each other.
We spoke to two Jewish Americans who attend UNC and two Palestinian Americans, one from UNC and one who recently graduated from N.C. State University. Here are their sentiments. We have agreed to withhold their last names.
Haya:
Haya, a Palestinian American and junior at UNC, attended the protest, not only to show solidarity with her identity but to support her family members at home who are suffering.
“I’ve never really felt a sense of community being Palestinian in the last place I lived,” said Haya. “So, when I came here and I was actually studying in the library, I started hearing ‘Free Free Palestine,’ and I said, ‘OK, once I finish this, I’m going to go outside and I’m going to join my people, the people who support me and support my family because it’s the least I can do.”
Haya said she wanted to help change the narrative that Israel has ‘spewed’ to the media.
“Israel comes out with the news, and it shows us as barbarians, as less than human, that we shouldn’t be given support,” Haya said. “How is it for us we are terrorists, but they’re defending themselves? They’re a nuclear superpower. I can promise you; they’re not defending themselves.”
The United States and European Union have designated Hamas a terrorist organization because of its armed resistance against Israel, which has included suicide bombings and rocket attacks according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Yes, it’s been labeled a terrorist organization by several different organizations,” Haya said. “But it’s created the same way Al-Qaeda was created by the United States and Syria. Hamas was created by Israel.”
“Because when you grow up in a situation like that, where all you’ve seen is violence, you cannot blame that 17-year-old kid for joining Hamas.”
Haya said the two-state solution that was supported by Biden and other officials is “just a utopian dream.” The two-state solution calls for establishing an independent state for Palestinians alongside that of Israel.
“I don’t think it should happen,” Haya said. “And I know that sounds really s—-y for me to say that a two-state solution shouldn’t happen, but under the oppression of the Israelis towards the Palestinians, where Palestinians are denied health care and access to transportation, I don’t think it can work.
“I think what needs to happen, in my opinion, is the United States needs to stop supplying all of this military to Israel.”
Haya believes there will be no peace until the Israeli government begins to understand their far-right views are “dangerous for humanity.”
“I hope in 100 years we will have our freedom; we will live peacefully,” Haya said. “I can listen to the birds when I’m at home in my mother’s country, instead of listening to warplanes, I can feel the sand under my feet instead of rubble and I can feel the wind on my skin instead of blood.”
Dan:
Dan, a Jewish American and junior at UNC, helped organize the pro-Israeli counter protest on Oct. 12.
Dan, who lived in Israel during high school, described an incident that had taken place the day before, which led to him reaching out to other Jewish students to join him in the counter protest.
“I was in Lenoir, the dining hall, and I was wearing this (Israeli flag) around me as I’m trying to sit down, take my flag off, some woman came up to me from behind and poured like soda or some red-stained liquid at me and all over my flag. And then after I confronted her about it and tried to take a picture of her to show authorities, she did it again.”
Dan said he and other protestors were disgusted that UNC Students for Justice in Palestine decided to hold the protest at such a dire time.
“It wasn’t just killing Israelis or killing Jews. Hamas was killing people indiscriminately,’ Dan said. “Babies were beheaded by Hamas. Women were raped and paraded in Gaza; their naked bodies set fire to in front of civilians. We get it, we understand there’s another side. You can fight for what you believe in, but coming out and openly supporting and calling what happened on Saturday and Sunday and has been happening since, resistance is atrocious.”
Dan believes for any peace talks to happen that the people in Gaza need to come together and overthrow the totalitarian government and invest in their people.
“People are dying on both sides. Like it’s a horrible thing that’s happening,” Dan said. “But people need to understand that civil discourse is the only thing that can be done to actually get anywhere in this situation. Spilling drinks and being violent and committing hate crimes against people that you don’t agree with is not going to get you anywhere.”
Noor:
Noor, a Palestinian American and graduate from N.C. State University woke up on Oct. 8 to a text in her family group chat from her father that said to call her aunt who lives in Jerusalem and check on her.
“That happens pretty often where my dad reminds us to call our aunt and check in on her,” Noor said. “So I didn’t think too much of it. I just texted back and said what happened? My older brother said check the news. So, at this point I was still in bed I checked the news and it was intense feelings, like this wasn’t the first time there was some form of Palestinian resistance, but it was the first time something of this scale had happened.”
While she believes the attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7 are terrible, she believes people need to realize that the attack was responsive, in the same way people have been describing Israel’s actions since then as responsive.
“I will put it in the words of the UN Secretary general, he said that one of the most important things to notice that what happened October 7, did not happen in a vacuum,” Noor said.
“To me the core problem is the original occupation. That was the root of violence in the region. My honest answer is Israel is to blame for all the violence that happens in Palestine because they are the original occupiers of the land.”
“What happened (in 1948) is that Zionists physically invaded Palestine and claimed it as their own, physically kicked Palestinians out of their house, forced them into neighboring countries and never allowed them to return. This is not a land battle, right? This is a matter of occupation and colonialism.”
When asked if she condemns Hamas, she said she cannot answer that question as someone who lives in the United States.
“I do not live in Gaza, I will never have to live with the consequences of the actions or words of Hamas. The best people to answer that question are the people who live in Gaza and I will always put their word above any of my own thoughts.”
However, she said that if a terrorist organization is defined as an institution that indiscriminately murders civilians, then she believes Israel is a modern-day terrorist organization.
“Warning civilians to leave before you bomb them, does not make it okay to bomb them,” Noor said. “Warning civilians to leave the only home they’ve ever known; these are kids these are children these are sick and injured old people, you know pick up and go where? Why should they leave their homes and their land, so that Israel can bomb it to the ground.”
She views social media as an incredibly powerful tool that allows her to help educate her peers who may not know what is happening in Palestine and Israel.
“I mean social media in the past 10 years has inspired revolutions,” Noor said. “The people who run our media networks, they get to pick what’s worth covering. But on our Instagram, we get to pick what is worth covering. I can cover my family’s story; I can tell the people that follow me my thoughts.”
Noor said what needs to happen in the immediate future is a ceasefire, she wants the violence to take an immediate stop.
“We have seen an unfathomable loss of life. Because of that it will take decades to rebuild,” Noor said. “There are millions of people who are homeless, orphans, families have been torn apart, people can’t reach their loved ones. Immediately there needs to be a call for ceasefire.”
Neill:
Neill, an Israeli American and junior at UNC, described being out with friends late Friday night (Oct. 7) when he got a text in his family group chat saying his family was sheltering in Israel.
“I remember talking to my dad at home and then we got the news about the festival, and you start to realize this is truly a different scale,” Neill said.
Neill said the Hamas is a Nazi-like organization that wants to commit genocide against the Jewish race, which is listed in their stated goals.
“I don’t see how someone can support Hamas or an organization that’s goal is to kill Jews, not Israelis, not Zionists—Jews,” Neill said.
He went onto quote Article 7 of the Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) which states: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”
“There’s a reason there’s no Jews in Palestine or in Gaza, the Palestinian authority is paying a billion dollars a year to terrorists for killing Jews,” Neill said. “Twenty percent of the Israeli population are Palestinian Arabs, they serve in the supreme court they serve in the government, there were Arab ministers in Israel. There are never Jewish ministers in Palestine.”
Neill said he thinks the first step towards resolution is to eliminate Hamas.
“I hope there will be some sort of different leadership in Gaza,” Neill said. “Gaza should be rebuilt, and the Palestinians should live there. I hope there will be some sort of coalition helping that. If we want to end violence Hamas is the first thing we need to end.”
Neill said he thinks Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, will not be reelected and that is a good thing.
“I don’t like Benjamin Netanyahu,” Neill said. “Not only me, the past 10 months there’s been hundreds of thousands of Israelis going every Saturday protesting against Benjamin and some of his judicial reforms he’s trying to pass.”
However, Neill does support Israel’s choice of retaliation against the Hamas in response to the Oct. 7 attack.
“Israel asked the civilians in Gaza to leave in accordance with international law,” Neill said. “Civilians can be required to leave if it’s for their safety. Hamas does not care how many Palestinians will die its only goal is to kill as many Jews as possible.”
Neill agreed with Noor in feeling grief and trauma about the past two weeks for his Israeli brothers and sisters who are currently living and fighting in Israel.
“I think in a weird way we kind of feel the same thing. I think we can both connect in the way that living the comfortable life here, where we kind of live in a different universe in a way and you’re like stuck in the wrong one. We don’t feel like we fit. You can’t focus on school, in the past two weeks I haven’t really been doing assignments. It’s horrible, It’s truly a horrible feeling. I think we can both agree that we just want peace,” Neill said.
“Mhmm yes,” Noor agreed.
Noor and Neill discussing the conflict in a sit-down interview.
Click below to view statements from student protestors.
