Students Supporting Israel held a vigil at Storke Tower on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by militant-group Hamas. Attendees, some of whom directly lost friends and family in the attack, honored those who died with candles, speeches and prayers.
Attendees, somewho directly lost friends and family in the attack, honored those who died with candles, speeches and prayer recitations. Sherine John / Daily Nexus
On Oct. 7, Hamas led an attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages. This led to a siege of the Gaza strip by Israel resulting in nearly 42,000 Palestinians deaths and millions displaced, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The vigil took place at Storke Tower from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Students Supporting Israel (SSI) organizers pitched a sign on the Storke Tower lawn that said “NEVER FORGET Oct. 7 WE WILL DANCE AGAIN.” Alongside was a depiction of the Kotel or the western wall — one of the closest praying sites to the site of the Holy of Holies, a sacred location for Jewish people.
The organizers also displayed booklets with personal stories of those who experienced the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, painted rocks memorializing victims and a tablecloth with the 1,200 names of those who died. During the vigil, the organizers passed around lit Yahrzeit candles, a Jewish tradition that honors the dead.
During the vigil, the organizers passed around lit Yahrzeit candles, a Jewish tradition to honor the dead. Sherine John / Daily Nexus
Third-year computer engineering major Ilai Tamari read aloud a testimony from a survivor of the Nova Music Festival, where 364 people were killed by Hamas on Oct. 7.
First-year English major Maya Kaye, who took a gap year to complete a journalism program in Israel, said she is no longer the person she was prior to Oct. 7. She spoke of her personal experience living in Israel, and the experience of those affected by the Oct. 7 attacks.
“It has been a year of the deepest grief imaginable, but it has also been a story of heroism and resilience, of strangers taking each other in as family, of the strength we’ve seen in our people for over 3000 years,” Kaye said.
Second-year global studies major, vice-president of SSI and A.S. senator Leah Khorsandi said in an interview that she felt the purpose of the vigil was to inform students of the deaths on Oct. 7.
“The main message is that we remember those who have died. They’re not forgotten. It’s been a year, and for the past year, they’ve been on our minds, and for the rest of our lives, they will be on our minds,” Khorsandi said.
Khorsandi said the vigil is for anybody who can sympathize with the tragedy. She emphasized that this vigil wasn’t just for those who are Jewish or involved with SSI, but rather any person who wanted to join them in mourning.
“It’s for anyone that connects at all. Israel means so much to so many different types of people all over the world. So this is for anyone that wants to come and mourn with us, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, whatever it is, all of the above,” Khorsandi said.
Fourth-year chemistry major Liad Habot said he felt a personal connection to the vigil as he lived in Israel until he was eleven. He said that he is used to events like these, as he grew up with ceremonies in remembrance of the Holocaust or Memorial Day.
“We constantly have things like this to commemorate different tragedies that happen with the people,” Habot said. “This brings up a lot of those memories of just being raised with this whole conflict and reality and inherited trauma from before the state of Israel and everything since.”
Fourth-year sociology major, SSI President and Associated Students (A.S.) senator Jasmine Amin expressed dissent against the Students in Justice for Palestine (SJP) vigil, dubbed “Honoring Our Martyrs,” which took place an hour before the SSI vigil.
“To host a vigil using the words ‘honoring our martyrs’ on the day of Oct. 7, made me sick to my stomach,” Amin said in an interview with the Nexus. “Nobody that is innocent, nobody that is not a terrorist, should die at all. But that isn’t what that vigil is about to say. Honoring your martyrs on the day of Oct. 7 is honoring the people that came into Israel, infiltrated our borders by land, air and sea, and brutally slaughtered innocent Israeli lives.”
Amin said she has cousins living in Israel and she spent the summer of 2023 in a seminary in Jerusalem.
“Obviously we can’t be in Israel, and all of us want to be there. So this was my way of bringing Israel here,” Amin said about the vigil.
Attendees then recited prayers for the hostages, the Israeli Defense Forces and the state of Israel.
The vigil ended with a moment of silence for the lives lost and the 101 hostages who remain in Gaza.
A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the Oct. 10, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.
As anyone paying attention to the SJP vigil would know, the term “martyr” is referring to those killed by Israel during the IDF’s bombardment of Gaza. Of course, I wouldn’t expect anything from the Zionist crowd but senseless whining and blatant attempts to throw shade at any sympathy being expressed towards the Palestinians