Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of potentially triggering situations, such as kidnapping, violence and death.
Around 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered for a vigil Monday night at the Sample Gates to mark one year since the Israel-Hamas war began, the start of a painful year for Palestinians around the globe.
Several demonstrators spoke before they lit candles and held a moment of silence.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants crossed into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages. More than 100 hostages remain in Gaza, with one third believed to be dead.
Israel launched airstrikes into Gaza the same day and began a ground invasion later that month.
Most of Palestine’s population of 2.3 million have been displaced since the attack, with more than 42,000 dead and 96,000 injured.
“All of us know why we’re here today,” one organizer said at the vigil. “It’s been one year of genocide in Palestine.”
In January, the International Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling that South Africa has a right to bring a case against Israel seeking a stop to its assault in Rafah, in which the nation accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians. The ruling also said Palestinians had plausible rights to protection from genocide.
Israel has escalated the war in recent weeks, largely against Iranian proxy groups in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Among those groups are the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemeni Houthis — both of which the U.S. designates as terrorist organizations.
Israel launched a new offensive Oct. 5 into northern Gaza and ordered the evacuation of around 300,000 people.
The vigil Monday night took place on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas-led attack. Bryce Greene, an IU Divestment Coalition organizer, said the vigil was held on Oct. 7 to mark the “365 days of genocide in Gaza.”
Aidan Khamis, a student leader in the Palestine Solidarity Committee, said in a speech that Oct. 7, 2023, marked when Palestinians “broke out of that prison” in Gaza. The crowd cheered after.
The Monday vigil was organized by the PSC, the Middle Eastern Student Association and the IUDC. The PSC and IUDC also organized the 100-day encampment in Dunn Meadow.
The encampment began April 25, and Indiana State Police and IU Police arrested 34 pro-Palestinian protesters the same day. On April 27, 23 more protesters were arrested.
Prosecutors later dropped charges against the 55 protesters arrested for criminal trespass.
On Aug. 2, the university cleared the encampment and placed fencing around Dunn Meadow for repairs that IU said were incurred by encampment structures.
Greene said the demonstrators will not give up until IU meets all of their demands.
The demands include the resignation of IU President Pamela Whitten, Provost Rahul Shrivastav and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty; the end of the university’s collaboration with Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division — a U.S. naval installation southwest of Bloomington; the university’s adherence to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement — meaning the university would financially divest from Israel; and the creation of Muslim and Middle Eastern cultural centers at IU.
“Every line on that demand list is super important, because we need to address our role in the genocide, right here, where we have an effect,” Greene said. “And what's on that petition is one of the most important steps we can take to do that.”
At the vigil, he spoke about those on campus who watch “the most unspeakable acts you could possibly imagine” and “do nothing.”
“One year of genocide,” he said. “One year of watching entire neighborhoods be erased off the map.”
Greene told the demonstrators they should be proud of themselves for attending and supporting Palestinians.
“You are on the right side of history,” he told them. “It is your duty to resist.”
An attendee of a pro-Palestine demonstration cups their hand around a lit candle Oct. 7, 2024, at Sample Gates. Attendees were encouraged to light candles and reflect on the war in Gaza.
During the vigil, several people in cars passing by shouted vulgar language, including a homophobic slur, at the demonstrators.
Malak Samara, an organizer who is Palestinian, also spoke at the vigil.
“We are here today to honor our martyrs and to affirm our commitment to fight back against the occupation, subjugation and oppression of Palestine and its people,” Samara said.
She said she shares the same identity as those in Palestine, despite living in America. She has family living in Palestine, which she said gives her an emotional connection to the conflict that may be difficult for others to have.
“The least I can do is continue to talk about it and show my unwavering pride for my country,” she said.
The crowd chanted “Free, free Palestine,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” at several points during the vigil.
A year ago, Samara said, she couldn’t have talked the same way about the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
“We could never talk about the resistance without being called terrorists,” she said.
Samara said she has participated in pro-Palestinian sit-ins on Wednesdays at Wells Library for the past three weeks and has faced opposition to her beliefs.
“There were people at Wells that would come up to my face and record me,” she said. “(They) would yell random curse words or derogatory words at me.” When this happens, she said she tries to calm herself down and tune it out.
Samara said that while she agrees with being “the bigger person,” she also thinks she has the right to stand up for herself.
“Give (organizers) grace,” she said. “We’re allowed to feel that anger. We’re allowed to feel our emotions. We are also allowed to fight back. We also are allowed to yell at someone who’s being disrespectful to us.”
Samara said it was one of the coalition’s goals for the vigil to evoke an emotional response, saying she wants people to imagine the victims of the attacks from the Israeli military as their own siblings and parents.
“You wouldn’t want that same thing happening to you,” she said.
Samara said at a protest in downtown Indianapolis after Oct. 7, 2023, her dad spoke to her and her brothers and garnered a crowd of people.
“He reminded us that this was truly a matter of human rights, not one ethnic or religious group versus another,” she said.
Editor’s note: Bryce Greene is a former opinion columnist for the IDS.
