Students Supporting Israel, local Jewish organizations hold third vigil remembering victims of Oct. 7 attack

On Oct. 7, nearly 100 students and community members gathered on the Storke Tower lawn and held candles in remembrance of the lives lost from the attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas in 2023. For the third anniversary of the attack, Students Supporting Israel, the Santa Barbara Hillel and other groups hosted a vigil consisting of eulogies, songs and speeches.

On Oct. 7, 2023, the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Following the attacks, Israel significantly heightened its military operations in the Gaza Strip. In the past three years, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have killed a confirmed 73,000 people in an ongoing genocide of the Palestinians, though some outlets claim the deathtoll is underreported. 

Starting around 7 p.m., Students Supporting Israel (SSI) member and third-year history of policy, law and governance major Romi Riss began by thanking some of the vigil’s organizers, including the Chabad and UC Santa Barbara’s Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity chapter. She went on to state the purpose of the vigil was to remember the lives of Israelis lost, not their deaths. 

“Tonight, we come together to remember them, not only for how they died, but for how they lived, as children, parents, siblings, friends and people who were deeply loved,” Riss said. “We are here to hold their memory together and to make a space for the grief that is still carried by so many. By being here, by saying their names and telling their stories, we refuse to let their lives be reduced to a single day.”

Throughout the evening, members of SSI told the stories of specific individuals and families that were killed on Oct. 7. Before the next speaker shared a poem of one of the hostages, she shared how Oct. 7 personally impacted her during her freshman year. 

“In the first two weeks of college, my whole world stopped and a piece of me was left back in freshman year. I was brushing my teeth the night of Oct. 6, about to go to sleep, when my phone blew up and my second home was under attack. We lost many brothers and sisters that day, and ever since then, nothing has been the same for Jewish people everywhere,” the speaker said. 

Another speaker told the story of the Kutz family who were killed by Hamas the night of Oct. 7. The mother and father, Livnat and Aviv, along with their three children Rotem, Yonatan and Yiftach were found deceased together in bed. 

“There was something incredibly difficult about trying to comprehend the loss of an entire family, five individual lives, but also everything they shared with one another — the dinners, the jokes, the arguments, the celebrations, the ordinary moments that make a family a family,” the speaker said. 

Next, an SSI member sang the song “Shum Davar Lo Yifga Bi” which translates from Hebrew to “Nothing Will Hurt Me.” The song was written by IDF Lieutenant Erez Shtark. The song recently gained attention after a video of Amit Mann — an Israeli paramedic — singing the song was found on her phone, recorded weeks before she was killed on Oct. 7.  

Before convening the vigil where attendees joined SSI at the Hillel for dinner, the entire crowd joined together in singing “Imagine” by John Lennon. 

In an interview with the Daily Nexus, SSI Secretary and fourth-year biology major Justin Shirazian noted feeling responsible to continue hosting these vigils to make sure the lives lost on Oct. 7 continue to be memorialized. 

“I think it’s a collective feeling that if we stop doing these vigils, people are going to forget what happened,” Shirazian said. “You know, it’s the same reason we have Holocaust Remembrance Day, same reason we have all these different events, all these holidays, national holidays, so that people don’t forget what happened, and I feel like responsibility falls on us students to make sure that student body remembers, and we put on these vigils to help our community mourn.”

SSI member and fourth-year sociology major Corelle Gabay said that she feels that antisemitism at UCSB has drastically decreased over the past three years, revealing she was victim to several antisemetic attacks in previous years. 

“To see where we are now from where we were three years ago, right after Oct. 7 happened, two weeks into my freshman year and I was terrified,” Gabay said. “I had gotten yelled at, spit at, cussed at for just being Jewish, and it wasn’t really even about Israel anymore. It was about me being Jewish. I think that now the climate has gone a lot better, and that it has definitely, definitely gone better. But I still think that we have a lot of work to do.”

Shirazian said that the organization feels very supported by University administration, noting that several administrators were in attendance of the vigil, including Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Mike Miller and Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Life Suzanne Perkin. 

“They’re very ready to help us whenever needed. Just now we had UCPD. We told UCPD previously that this thing was going on. They were like 100% we will be there, we will protect you, we will support you,” Shirazian said. “And that sentiment was also seen with admin. They were like, talk to UCPD, make sure they’re there. Like we’re here for you. A lot of admin was actually here tonight, so that was incredible.”

When asked about Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians and how the Palestinian lives lost since Oct. 7 fit into conversations within SSI, multiple members said they are only focusing on mourning, “regardless of politics, regardless of anything like that, regardless of different opinions.”

“I don’t think this is about that. Truly, I think this is about Oct. 7, and I think this is a tragedy that should be mourned regardless of a political affiliation,” Shirazian said. “I don’t think it’s about politics. I don’t think it’s about [United Nations] … decrees. I think it’s about mourning the lives here, remembering them and sticking to that.”

Several groups at UCSB, including Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace and Academics for Justice in Palestine have called on UCSB to divest from Israel and United States weapons manufacturers. When asked how SSI feels about calls for divestment, Shirazian again said that the day was “not about politics.”

“If people are upset that we’re mourning our dead, then that’s another issue. We’re here to mourn our dead. We’re not here to push and adjourn on anyone. We are here for us, and that’s all I have to say about that,” Shirazian said.

A version of this article appeared on p. 3 of the Oct. 15  print edition of the Daily Nexus.