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Over 50 people gathered in front of the James M. Hanley Federal Building in downtown Syracuse on Friday for the “We Charge Genocide” vigil, calling for a ceasefire in Palestine and an end to the United States’ financial aid to Israel.

The vigil was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace Syracuse, the Syracuse chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the Syracuse Peace Council and Syracuse University’s Faculty for Justice in Palestine, said Leah Rubin, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace.

“As a Jew and as a Jewish group, we all believe that our ancestors have taught us that standing by while genocide occurs is not in our values,” Rubin said.

The vigil was a protest to Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Following the attack, Israel mobilized a military response in Palestine, vowing to eliminate Hamas. The Israel-Hamas war has a reported death toll of over 25,000 people in Palestine and, according to the Israeli government, around 1,200 Israelis killed on Oct. 7.

Ursula Rozum, a vigil co-organizer with the Syracuse chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, spoke regarding Friday’s International Court of Justice ruling, which decided South Africa’s genocide case against Israel has jurisdiction to move forward. The court did not call for a ceasefire but said Israel must take measures to prevent the death of Palestinian civilians.

“The Syracuse vigil was part of an international series of events calling on world governments to support an immediate ceasefire … and to end any further weapons and financial aid to Israel,” according to a press release handed out at the event.

Organizers began by reminding attendees of an ongoing civil case against President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin brought forward by the Center for Constitutional Rights, who accused them of failing to prevent the “Israeli government’s unfolding genocide,” and complicity in that genocide.

“We’re here today while they’re giving testimony, demanding an end to the U.S. complicity in genocide in Palestine,” Rubin said.

Rozum also criticized Biden, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for not having called for a ceasefire.

“In their silence, they are supporting Israel with military aid and political cover,” Rozum said. “By not supporting a ceasefire, they are complicit, so we’re here to demand that our elected officials end their complicity.”

Jewish Voice for Peace member Olivia, who did not give her last name, said she is a descendant of Holocaust survivors. She spoke about how survivors of the war in Palestine will have the same “ancestral trauma” she does, looking ahead to Saturday’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“As someone who has intimately experienced the impacts of genocidal fascism and antisemitism, we say, ‘No, you will not weaponize our trauma for war and genocide,’” Olivia said.

Basem Ashkar, a first-generation Palestinian American and SUNY Upstate Medical University student, called on elected officials to end the U.S.’s involvement in Palestine, citing Israel’s “ruthless attack on the healthcare system in Gaza.”

“For some reason, the United States (and) our taxes are funding these atrocities,” Ashkar said. “Our elected officials are failing to represent us and our demands.”

Following remarks from speakers, members of the crowd read the work of Palestinian poetry out loud, including “What is Home,” a poem by Mosab Abu Toha, an SU alumnus who was taken into custody by the ID. After his release in Dec. 2023, he wrote for The New Yorker that soldiers blindfolded him, attached a “numbered bracelet” to bind his hands, kicked him in the stomach and slapped him in the face.

Another speaker, SU graduate student Aziza Zahran, presented poetry. She expressed frustration with how the university has addressed the conflict in Palestine and student protests.

“Syracuse University has been silent,” Zahran said. “If anything, they called the FBI on student activists on campus.”

In a Nov. 9 email sent following an on-campus march in support of Palestine, Provost Gretchen Ritter and Senior Vice President Allen Groves wrote that SU was “in touch with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, to monitor for any specific threats.”

At that Nov. 9 protest, a speaker criticized SU for allowing Student Athletes for Israel and Hillel to host an event where students bought and shipped medical supplies and household supplies to Israel. At the protest, she called the organizations involved in the event complicit in genocide.

In the email, Ritter and Groves called the language “reprehensible behavior.”
After the poetry reading, the vigil ended with speakers and attendees singing songs, including “The People Are Gonna Rise Like Water” by the Peace Poets and “We Rise” by Batya Levine.

“Do not stop holding our institutions accountable,” Ashkar said. “Please do not stop working towards a healthy and just future for all people.”

Published on January 27, 2024 at 12:14 am

Contact Griffin: gbrown19@syr.edu