The event in front of Hofstra Hall remained peaceful with some tense moments.
On Monday, Oct. 14, students led by Hofstra University’s Student Voices for Palestine (SVP) chapter held candles, read names and gave speeches to remember people killed in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria during the past year of conflict between Israel, Hamas and neighboring countries.
The vigil took place from 1:00 to 2:25 p.m. in front of Hofstra Hall, similar to protests in support of Palestine on campus last spring. According to a post on SVP’s Instagram page prior to the event, the stated purpose was “to honor the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.”
“Yes, this is a vigil, but this is a small part of the liberation movement. Vigils, protests, having conversations, pressuring our representatives [and] boycotting are all intertwined,” said SVP Vice President Alisha Paracha, a sophomore political science major, at the start of the vigil. “We are honoring the lives of the people of Lebanon and Yemen and Syria and Congo and all the other oppressed people in this messed-up world.”
Since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, 2023, more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Some studies estimate that the true number of casualties is much higher, which Paracha mentioned in her speech.
“Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by Israel in one year … now Lebanon, Syria and Yemen are being bombed by Israel and the world continues to stay silent,” Paracha said.
Hofstra Professor Paul Fritz, who teaches and studies international politics and conflicts, called the Gaza Health Ministry’s numbers “fairly accurate,” but clarified that the true number is difficult to pinpoint due to “the fog of war.”
“We’ll probably never get 100% clarity on any of these issues, even in hindsight there will still be disputed cases and there will be conflicts and arguments over the numbers,” Fritz said.
The majority of the vigil consisted of members of SVP taking turns reading the names of children on the list under the age of 1, punctuated by speeches from participants.
“When we were talking about how we wanted this vigil to go, we knew that we would not be able to read all the names of the people who were killed,” Paracha said. “For the hour and 25 minutes that we have, we have decided to read the names of the babies under the age of 1 who were killed.”
A small group of students, mainly affiliated with Jewish organizations on campus such as Hofstra Hillel and Students Supporting Israel, gathered in front of Hofstra Hall to observe the vigil. Members of Public Safety were present, but did not physically separate the two groups at any point.
Some students observing began filming throughout the vigil, provoking a speech from SVP member Zainab Mozawalla, a senior political science major.
“We cannot mourn without it being controversial to be upset about the Palestinian lives lost … we will keep reading names and they can keep filming because it is not wrong to read the names of the dead,” Mozawalla said.
Deena Shamoelian, the president of Hofstra’s Students Supporting Israel and a junior history major, said students were filming “because there were things that they thought were problematic and they wanted to have that on film.”
Shamoelian listed multiple “problematic” terms used by speakers at the vigil, such as the description of the conflict in Gaza as a “genocide,” the phrase “by any means necessary” and the “use of projected numbers [of casualties] as if they were already established.” However, Shamoelian acknowledged that differences of opinion are expected in such a “highly politicized, highly polarized topic.”
“I’m going to want to use different terminology than someone who’s on the other side of the aisle,” Shamoelian said.
Other pro-Israel students expressed their opinions, supporting the message behind the vigil. Dassi Gordon-Knight, a freshman dance education major, was among the students gathered across from the vigil.
“I don’t want any lives to be lost on either side, but I do know that that happens, and I think that this is an acceptable thing to do,” Gordon-Knight said.
Mozawalla also spoke on the vigil coinciding with Indigenous People’s Day. “As genocide is being committed against Palestinians, we are here to remember the indigenous people of Palestine and mourn their lives.”
The vigil also roughly lined up with the important Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, which took place Friday, Oct. 11 and Saturday, Oct. 12. Avigayil Fischman-Charry, a junior music business major, spoke about attending services and condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“I have come up here to say that as a Jewish person, I cannot stand by while endless atrocities are committed in my name; not on Yom Kippur and not on any day of the year,” Fischman-Charry said.
Abe, a sophomore biology major and SVP member who asked to be identified only by first name, attributed decreased attendance in comparison to protests last spring to the Mask Transparency Act, a Nassau County law passed in August which prohibits wearing a mask in public except for health or religious reasons.
“Many people didn’t come because of the mask ban … that’s what makes it difficult for us to have good turnouts,” Abe said.
According to sophomore political science major and SVP Public Relations chair Django Buenz, Hofstra’s administration has also limited when and how the organization can hold protests and vigils.
“People should be able to hide their identity or protest under the guise of anonymity if they so please to, and Nassau County just makes that impossible, so it’s rough but we’re going to have to deal with it,” Buenz said.
Despite the limitations, SVP plans to continue to hold demonstrations throughout the school year.
“We have to think outside the box and see what we could do to make people come to these events without being in trouble or fear of anything happening to them,” Abe said.