By: Emily Nixon
On Oct. 8, a Brooklyn College (BC) club, United 4 Israel (U4I), held a vigil to honor the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks on the West Quad during common hours.
Starting an hour before the vigil’s official start time, the West Quad was filled with Isreali flags in front of Roosevelt Hall. The lawn also had posters of the individuals who lost their lives during Oct. 7, with multiple adornment flowers stuck into the grass. Beside a big Israeli flag, a banner stating, “Unite Against Terrorism” loomed over multiple posters giving context for other terrorist attacks, such as the Boston Marathon or a suicide bombing in Paris, France.
“Through flags, flowers, and displays, we highlighted what happened on October 7 and brought attention to terrorist attacks that have taken place around the world,” wrote U4I President Shelly Zebak in a statement to The Vanguard. “The message behind our installation was “United Against Terrorism.” We believe that no matter where terrorism happens or who its victims are, we should all be able to stand together against it.”
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas, a militant political group that governs the Gaza Strip and is designated by many Western countries as a terrorist organization, attacked Israel, leading to more than 1300 Israeli deaths, according to the National Library of Medicine.
United 4 Israel placed multiple signs across the West Quad lawn, including a canvas sign which stated, “We remember those we lost. We honor those who returned. May our unity be their lasting memory.”
Days before the U4I vigil, the Brooklyn College Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) took to Instagram to announce their own vigil: “BC SJP will be having our own memorial for the entire duration of the zionist event,we will be outside the gate reading out the names of our martyrs.”
“We want to make clear that we did not hold our vigil merely as a response to the United4Israel memorial–although we do condemn it–but it was more so a last-minute result of our collective refusal to let this genocide be forgotten,” stated SJP President Noora Khwaja in a statement to The Vanguard. “We refused to let the millions of dead Palestinians be forgotten. And we refused to let the narrative of the ‘Israeli victim’ win.”
Between rounds of readings, an attendee of the SJP vigil requested other attendees to chant the information in unison to ensure all in the vicinity could hear them.
”I believe that we should make our voices be heard. We need for them to hear us, and the only way we can do that is for all of us to be heard together, as one,” said an attendee during the SJP vigil.
SJP’s vigil focused on ensuring the memory of people killed in the aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023 lived on.
“It was almost an out-of-body experience. Some of them had posted on Facebook before they died, saying things like their worst fear is being forgotten, or being counted as just a number,” stated Khwaja. “The vigil wasn’t glamorous at all–we didn’t have food or 1,000 flags or even a table–but we hope that those martyrs, who were so scared of being forgotten, would appreciate what we did.”
U4I has held a vigil for the victims of Oct. 7 every year since 2023, when the attack occurred, which has been counter-protested by SJP and various student groups each year, as reported by The Vanguard.
“Our goal was to bring our campus community together around something we should all agree on: terrorism has no place in our world, no matter where it happens or who its victims are,” wrote Zebak.
When SJP began to set up a table for memorial items, such as “candle lights” and papers containing the names and stories of victims of Oct. 7, Community Affairs officers told SJP members that their group and any materials for the vigil had to remain behind a barricaded “pen” on the sidewalk.
While this decision was familiar, SJP members felt the fencing-in was a “fear-mongering” tactic, according to an interview with leftvoice_cuny on Instagram.
“[Security Officers] use the claim of peace and making sure that all of our voices are being ‘heard,’ quote unquote. However, it’s more so a containment of student expression,” said Ari Tirado, a BC student who attended SJP’s vigil. “Despite the fact that it’s a small number of students, they still show up in numbers. They still show up with tons of, almost 100 barricades ready to contain god knows what.”
Tirado felt the move was targeted, as other organizations outside of BC set up information tables on the sidewalk, seemingly without issue.
“This is a public sidewalk. I think we see every week a table set up a collection of information with different movements,” said Tirado. “We’ve seen PSC out here for the reinstatement of the fired four. We’ve seen the internationalists, and I don’t think this [assembly] is any different. I think this is more so a demonstration of how we feel and how unjust this is.”
An attendee of the vigil sat on a bench on the West Quad with signs, inviting other attendees to talk about Israel and Palestine and promoting dialogue among members of the BC community.
“During the several hours the installation was on the Quad, we had meaningful conversations with students who stopped by,” wrote Zebak. “We shared stories, answered questions, and listened to different perspectives. We wanted to create a space where people could learn, remember, and connect.”
Both vigils dispersed around 2:15 p.m., with no further incident between the two groups.
For more information regarding Students for Justice in Palestine and United4Israel, visit their respective Instagrams: @bc_sjp and @united4israel.