EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) – In a sign of solidarity with Palestine, dozens of USI students joined forces with Veterans for Peace to call for an end to all fighting between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza. called for an end to the violence.
“There are no winners in war, there are only losers,” says John O'Leary, a member of the Veterans for Peace movement. “What we are seeing now is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions and we need to stop it.”
Mr O'Leary says he sympathizes with the Israelis who have lost their lives since the attacks began, but insists that is no excuse for retaliation. “It reminds me of when you were little and you had a fight with your sibling and your parents came into the room and said, 'I don't care who started it.' That has to stop,” O'Leary said. say.
Supporters of Israel, including freshman student Eitan Michaeli, have taken their stance on the issue. “Israelis generally don't want war,” Michaeli says. “I don't think Israel should fight other countries. But they are trying to take our country, so I feel sorry for the people who were killed for no reason.”
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Gai Fingelstein, a former Israeli soldier, fought in Gaza for three months and returned to Israel to rejoin the war. “We don't want war,” Fingelstein explains. “And if Israel doesn't fight, it's like it's not a country. If they want to fight, it's not a war. So if they fight, we have to fight back. No, because like I said, we want our country and we don't want to lose it.”
Habeba Mohamed participated in the protests in the West. The University of Evansville junior traveled across town to support Palestine. “October 7 was a retaliation from the Palestinian people for the oppression that continued in the 1940s,” Mohamed said. “That was their response. It is impossible for Israel to respond differently to it.”
“I feel like those people,” Fingelstein replies. “They just say it's their side and I say it's my side, but we don't agree. That's it.” Mohammed insists this is no longer a war, but a genocide do. Fingelstein says it's to protect the homeland. “We exercised our rights to protect ourselves. We never started. Every time they fired the bomb first,” Fingelstein says. “As long as they keep fighting, we keep fighting back. It's our country.”
Some members of both sides occasionally engaged each other. Although the conversation was passionate, we remained polite during the demonstration.
