“Oh Gaza, do not cry, Palestine will never die.”
The procession never stopped cheering as it left the Bowdoin College campus, made its way through downtown Brunswick, and marched back up Main Street. Many of the crowd of 150 people carried handmade signs calling for peace. Others waved Palestinian flags as they headed down quiet Potter Street and reached their destination: the home of Senator Angus King.
On Saturday afternoon, the Bowdoin chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine hosted a peace rally in support of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 17,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in the past two months. Organizers said their goal was to pressure King and Senator Susan Collins to oppose continued Israeli military action, as well as US military aid to Israel.
“Every minute, every hour, every day that passes without a ceasefire declared is another Palestinian killed, another innocent person, and this is absolutely unacceptable,” said Issa Raafat, one of the event organizers from Austin, Texas. . “Describing it as genocide and calling it what it is is extremely important.”
Universities across the country have become political battlegrounds since Hamas killed more than 1,200 Israelis in a surprise attack on October 7. Some pro-Palestine student groups have drawn heavy criticism because they appear to place some or all of the blame for the attacks on repressive institutions. Israeli policies in the occupied Palestinian territories, which Amnesty International considered a system of apartheid.
Meanwhile, Jewish students have reported a disturbing rise in anti-Semitic sentiment on college campuses since Israel launched its counteroffensive, which leveled large parts of Gaza and killed thousands of civilians as well as Hamas soldiers. Many university presidents have been harshly criticized for their reluctance to take strong positions on the war abroad and the resulting unrest at home.
When asked about October 7, Raafat said that his organization opposes the killing of all innocent civilians.
Some elements of Saturday’s demonstration hinted at the controversy that has trickled down to other campuses. Many students chose to wear masks to protect their identities. They pointed to high-profile doxxing incidents that occurred at Harvard and Columbia universities, where pro-Israel activists plastered the names of pro-Palestinian students on trucks for the public to see. The event began when the crowd gathered outside the Bowdoin Art Museum to sing, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a lyric that some have interpreted as a call for the extermination of Jews, but others say is simply a cry for Palestinian independence.
But while many of the student speakers argued passionately for an end to the violence in Gaza, they largely steered clear of the more aggressive rhetoric that has contributed to division at other schools — a tactic organizers said they deliberately adopted to avoid distracting from their peaceful message. . They say Bowdoin’s administration and student body have been largely receptive to recent SJP events, and the college has maintained a welcoming and safe atmosphere for Jewish students and pro-Palestine advocates.
Junior Mark Rosenthal, who is Jewish and a member of Bowdoin Hillel, said it was important for him to show other students that criticizing Israel is not the same as anti-Semitism.
“I am ashamed that these crimes are being committed in the name of my people,” he told the gathered students on Saturday. “I am angry at the distortion of Jewish values to perpetuate atrocities. Bombing entire city blocks to the ground, destroying families’ homes and livelihoods is the opposite of tikkun olam – repairing the world.
Bowdoin SJP’s open letter to King and Collins garnered more than 1,500 signatures in less than a week, including hundreds of students from more than 15 colleges in Maine.
After several student speeches, demonstrators marched through Brunswick carrying handwritten signs displaying the names of more than 6,000 Palestinians killed in the first 20 days of the war. The casualty list, provided by the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health, does not differentiate between soldier and civilian deaths, but is largely accurate, the Associated Press reports.
The event concluded with organizers delivering the list and SJP’s open letter to King’s door.
Support for a ceasefire may be strong among college students and almost all members of the United Nations Security Council, but it remains a difficult matter in Washington. With few exceptions, Democrats and Republicans in Congress strongly supported Israel’s right to respond to the October 7 attack.
A Collins spokesman said Saturday that the senator supports providing humanitarian aid, including food, water and medicine, to civilians in Gaza, but said a ceasefire “would be a strategic victory for Hamas.”
“This will simply allow Hamas to bide its time and prepare for future attacks, and pay no price for the greatest loss of Jewish lives in a single day since the Holocaust,” she said in a statement. “It is Hamas that violated the ceasefire with its attacks on October 7, and it is Hamas that violated the recent humanitarian truce.”
King also believes Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas — “a barbaric terrorist organization whose stated goal is to destroy Israel and the Jewish people,” according to a spokesman. But he also said King was “horrified” by the civilian death toll and urged Israeli officials to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza and reduce the civilian death toll.
King called the Bowdoin students, as well as any other concerned Mainers, to a meeting with his office to discuss the issue.
“Ex
An incoming storm will bring the threat of flooding, high winds, and heavy rain to Maine
Related stories
College students across the nation are coming together to urge Senator King to support a ceasefire in Gaza. With the ongoing conflict in the region causing countless lives to be lost and infrastructure to be destroyed, these students believe it is imperative for the United States to take a stand for peace. As passionate advocates for human rights and international diplomacy, they are making their voices heard in hopes of influencing Senator King to prioritize the protection of civilians and promote a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Their dedication to this cause reflects the power of young voices in shaping political decisions and advocating for global peace.