UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP) launched an encampment on the quad at 10 a.m. on Monday. After a first day marked by protest, University responses, and tensions between supporters of Palestine and Israel, the encampment enters its second day.
This article is being updated as the situation develops.
Day 2 Summary
The second day of the UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP) encampment on the quad brought continued activity from demonstrators and unaffiliated community members.
Maroons For Israel (MFI) returned to the quad in the morning to rehang flags and banners that had been torn down overnight and to replace a University Student Centers signboard that had been vandalized. UCUP released a statement condemning the antisemitic remarks directed towards MFI affiliates on Monday night and encouraging the protesters “not to engage with counter-protestors or their property.” In the evening, UChicago Kehillah and MFI released a joint statement calling some of the encampment’s chants and actions “deplorable.”
During a rally held midday, new chants included “UCPD, KKK, IDF are all the same” and “Louder, louder, say it more. Not a conflict, not a war.” Rally organizers also read President Alivisatos’s April 29 email “Concerning the Encampment” aloud.
During the afternoon, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. visited the encampment and posed for photos with the protesters.
Six individuals not affiliated with the University and UCUP set up a table on the quad in the afternoon, inviting protesters and onlookers to discuss Islam and the conflict in Gaza over coffee. One of the individuals said the group’s audience is primarily Muslims who the group believes are not fully adhering to Islamic teachings.
Throughout the day, several people attempted to film the encampment, but were blocked by protesters holding Palestinian flags and keffiyehs. Among those attempting to film was a Kick streamer going by the username Waxiest, who was also present at the encampment yesterday.
April 30, 9:38 p.m.
UChicago Kehillah and Maroons for Israel released a joint statement on Instagram regarding the encampment and UCUP protests.
The statement denounced the chants “Globalize the Intifada” and “From the River to the Sea” as “deplorable,” writing they “do not advance education, dialogue, or understanding among UChicago students.” Other actions the statement condemned include “the encampment [barring] a campus Rabbi from passing through the area [in front of the encampment]” and hosting Bill Ayers, the co-founder of Weather Underground, “an FBI-designated domestic terrorist organization” that operated in the 1970s.
The two groups said they “stand together in condemning the antisemitic chants, disruptive behavior, and intimidation tactics used by the UChicago United for Palestine, Student Justice for Palestine [sic] (SJP), and their affiliates.”
The statement concluded with the groups expressing that “no amount of hate will break the strong Jewish and Israeli pride on campus. Am Yisrael Chai.”
— Eva McCord and Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editors-in-Chief; Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor; Peter Maheras, News Editor; and Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon, News Reporter
April 30, 8:59 p.m.
Organizers have started playing the audio from a joint Instagram Live from Columbia SJP and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition, and a large group has gathered around to listen. In New York, NYPD has surrounded the building in which Columbia students are protesting.
— Eva McCord and Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editors-in-Chief; Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor; and Peter Maheras, News Editor
April 30, 8:42 p.m.
Lessons in Dabke, a Levantine folk dance, have begun. An organizer listed the steps to the dance and then played music, shaking a tambourine to the beat; the two moves taught were named “Palestine” and “Lebanon.” Approximately thirty encampment members participated in the dance, while a surrounding crowd cheered and clapped.
— Eva McCord and Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editors-in-Chief, and Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 30, 8:30 p.m.
Around 40 Jewish members of the protest removed their shoes and gathered onto a large tarp for the Ma’ariv, the evening prayer.
Organizers passed out prayer sheets written in Hebrew and transliterated Hebrew.
After the Ma’ariv, about 20 people gathered in a circle and read a history of Mimouna, a traditional Maghrebi Jewish celebration that marks the end of Passover.
Daniel, a Ph.D. student at the University, told the Maroon that connecting with other Jewish activists in the encampment has helped him expand his conceptions of his own Jewishness.
“[Prayers] weren’t really an important part of my Jewish practice growing up,” he said. “It’s wonderful to sort of come into contact with other Jewish people and enter into ritual together.”
“It’s been a wonderful way to kind of feel like I’m coming into my Jewishness in this space, and sharing it with others and bringing it here,” he added.
Andrew Basta, a fourth-year in the College, helped organize the reading.
“We really recognize that Zionism has a very destructive capacity not just on Palestinians, which of course is the focus, but also on Jewish life,” Basta said. “And so when we go… into the circle, we remember that and renew our commitment to fight against Zionism.”
— Peter Maheras, News Editor, and Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
April 30, 7:59 p.m.
A Kick streamer who goes by the username Waxiest has returned to the main quad and is filming the encampment.
“It’s all good until you show up with a camera,” Waxiest said to a passerby on the quad. “I got [removed for] trespassing from U[niversity] of M[innesota].”
“I can’t wait for the cops to come in and just fuck these guys up.”
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 30, 7:50 p.m.
The Maghrib, or the sunset prayer, has begun.
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 30, 6:55 p.m.
Muslim Imam and scholar Hamza Maqboul made a speech encouraging the protestors to continue.
“You are my heroes. I wanted to stand with you. I wanted to be with you,” Maqboul said. “Not only are you heroes, but it’s working. That insinuation of the devil inside of your ear that you’re wasting your time—it’s a lie.”
– Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editor
April 30, 6:42 p.m.
Protesters, some faculty, and a number of children have been painting wooden signs to put up by the encampment. On the signs are slogans such as “Fuck Genocide Joe,” “Bothered by the encampment? Look away like you do for genocide,” and “Viets 4 Palestine.”
– Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 30, 6:21 p.m.
UCUP organizers announced that they “do not currently expect a police raid even though anything could happen.”
– Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 30, 5:40 p.m.
A group of six individuals, none of whom are affiliated with UChicago or UCUP, have set up a table on the quad near the front of the encampment. Signs on the table read, “Drink coffee and discuss with us” and “Why is Gaza occupied?”
The Maroon spoke with one of the people at the table, a 2022 graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology named Abdallah Abdeljamil.
“We support the Palestinian cause. So we decided, some people here—Muslims and non Muslims—they need the proper culture and proper knowledge on the issue of Palestine: why it’s happened, what the solution is, all these things,” Abdeljamil said. “So we’re just here to discuss with some coffee and some drinks.”
Abdeljamil said the group’s audience is primarily Muslims who they believe are not fully adhering to Islamic teachings. Abdeljamil cited Muslims who appeal to the electoral system rather than the Muslim community regarding issues including the conflict in Gaza.
“The Muslims here, they heavily rely on the democracy here that America has created to solve their problems…. And Islam says, You’re not allowed to do that. Islam says, help comes from the Muslims, not from any other people,” Abdeljamil said.
– Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editor, and Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon, News Reporter
April 30, 5:05 p.m.
Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., long-time civil rights activist and former U.S. presidential candidate, has arrived at the encampment. He is taking photos with protesters.
– Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor, and Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editor
April 30, 4 p.m.
Since starting in front of Swift Hall yesterday morning and expanding to just outside of Kent Chemical Laboratory yesterday evening, the encampment has grown even further. Demonstrators have laid down blankets close to the main walkway on the quad.
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 30, 3:27 p.m.
Dean of Rockefeller Chapel D. Maurice Charles spoke to the Maroon, saying, “The current moment is a master class in compassion,” he said. “We may not necessarily be able to empathize with some people because their experience is so far beyond the realm of our own experience, but we can still acknowledge and tend to people who are suffering, and we can acknowledge and tend to people who are afraid.”
– Anu Vashist, Managing Editor; Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor; and Nikhil Jaiswal, Co-Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
April 30, 3:05 p.m.
The Graduate Students United at the University of Chicago (GSU-UE) 1103 Membership Action released an open letter emailed to University President Paul Alivisatos in response to his email regarding the encampment. “We are writing to register with you our disagreement with the communication you sent,” the letter begins.
The letter states that GSU-UE views a graduate student disciplined for engaging in a peaceful protest as a violation of their contract, and encourages members to “exercise their democratic and contractual rights.”
“What we are seeing at UChicago now occurs in a national context of political repression against those who speak up against the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” the letter reads. It calls for the University to avoid further involving the police and to “return to our historic shared value of unencumbered free expression.”
— Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editor-in-Chief, and Lee Gutman, News Reporter
April 30, 2:58 p.m.
Two police officers running past the encampment to an unrelated off-campus call led to a crowd of approximately 20 people on the quad rushing through Levi Hall toward South Ellis Avenue.
– Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 30, 2:02–2:25 p.m.
Nine UCPD officers were on the main quad to mitigate a conflict between a man, who identified himself as an alum, and demonstrators. Seven of the officers had been called in by Deans-on-Call and one of two police officers initially on the scene.
During the Dhuhr, the man was attempting to film praying students, stating, “If they’re praying in public, it’s my prerogative to film them.”
A Kick streamer using the username Waxiest, who also attempted to film prayers yesterday, has returned to the encampment. Demonstrators have once again created a barrier with Palestinian flags, blankets, and keffiyehs to block the streamer’s camera.
As of 2:25 p.m., the men both left without further conflict.
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Anu Vashist, Managing Editor; and Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 30, 1:35 p.m.
The rally has concluded.
– Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 30, 1:22 p.m.
Following the speaker who read Alivisatos’s email aloud, another speaker criticized the administration’s lack of engagement with UCUP’s demands.
“When the University administration continues to profit off the genocide, to profit off occupation, to profit off of apartheid—for them to send an email that disregards our wishes, that talks to us in a condescending manner about how we protest, without actually discussing with us our demands, [it] is abhorrent,” the speaker said.
A third speaker briefly took the microphone to make an announcement regarding Brown University’s encampment. Yesterday, Brown’s President Christina Paxson sent a letter to encampment demonstrators agreeing to hear a divestment proposal if the encampment was disbanded and further unauthorized protest did not take place.
“I want you to know that these encampments do something, and you do something by being here, and we will win.” the speaker said.
– Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editor
April 30, 1:20 p.m.
As of 1:20 p.m., a petition in support of the encampment has gathered 235 signatures from University teaching staff, including TAs and professors.
The signatories pledge “not to teach or TA for any courses that feed into our institution’s complicity with Israel, including those affiliated with the Israel Institute or hosted by apartheid Israeli universities” and call on the University to meet UCUP protestors’ demands.
– Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
April 30, 1:08 p.m.
A rally organizer has begun to read aloud from President Alivisatos’s April 29 email entitled “Concerning the Encampment.” The organizer paused at times to mock the email, eliciting boos from those assembled.
– Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 30, 12:58 p.m.
“UCPD, KKK, IDF are all the same” is the latest rallying cry.
Organizer Youssef Hasweh also led chants of “We know where our money goes. Bombing Gaza schools and homes,” “Israel bombs, UChicago pays. How many kids did you kill today?” and “Louder, louder, say it more. Not a conflict, not a war.” The crowd at the rally, which has been slowly building in number to more than 200 people, cheered.
“Hey, UChicago, we know you, there is blood on your hands too.”
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief, and Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 30, 12:52 p.m.
After chants of “Paul, Paul, you’re a liar. We demand a ceasefire. Paul, Paul, you can’t hide. You enable apartheid,” organizers read the UChicago Popular University’s demands to cheering from onlookers.
— Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 30, 12:38 p.m.
The rally has begun.
Organizers opened the rally with chants including “Intifada, Intifada, long live the Intifada. There is only one solution. Intifada, Revolution.” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied. Palestine is our demand. No peace on stolen land.”
A representative from MECHA de UChicago, an activist and cultural organization centered around issues concerning the Latine community, told attendees: “As I look right now, at this beautiful crowd today… I see a crowd of individuals with different relationships to colonialism.”
“The fight for Black, brown, and all suppressed people of color is the fight for the liberation of Gaza and all Palestinian people,” they said. “I am here, proud to say, that students all across the United States are the leaders of this revolution.”
An organizer then led rally attendees in a call-and-response of the song “Rise Up,” adapted from the Chance the Rapper song “Blessings.”
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor; Peter Maheras, News Editor; and Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editor
April 30, 12:08 p.m.
Organizers said that the rally initially scheduled for 12 p.m. would be postponed until further notice.
– Peter Maheras, News Editor
April 30, 11:05 a.m.
Organizers have started a “de-escalation training” for student marshals. The focus of the training is on using the “four D’s of bystander intervention” (distract, delegate, direct, and delay) to keep protesters safe from hostile outsiders.
– Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 30, 10:45 a.m.
UCUP released their schedule of events for the day. It includes a rally at noon, teach-ins from Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP), and a speech by an imam later this evening.
-Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon, News Reporter
April 30, 10:32 a.m.
Overnight, the words “ESCALATE FOR GAZA!” were spray-painted on the wall in the walkway between Wieboldt Hall and the Classics building.
– Peter Maheras, News Editor, and Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon, News Reporter
April 30, 10 a.m.
As 10 a.m. nears, the encampment has now entered its 24th hour on the quad.
– Peter Maheras, News Editor
April 30, 9:51 a.m.
UCUP released a statement to the Maroon regarding Maroons for Israel’s torn-down installations.
“UCUP has communicated a clear set of community guidelines as part of its encampment and onboarding process, chief among which is not to engage with counter-protestors or their property. This was reiterated over megaphone twice last night after a lone actor tore down Maroons for Israel flags without UCUP’s knowledge. We are here for the people of Gaza, not to engage in turf wars or escalations with counter-protestors, particularly in ways that endanger those in and around the encampment and distract from our key demands.”
— Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 30, 9:40 a.m.
Content warning: mentions sexual violence.
A Jewish student who told the Maroon she feels unsafe on campus is writing in chalk on the main quad, “#Me Too, Unless They’re a Jew,” a reference to acts of sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7.
Other Jewish students’ chalk writings say “Am Yisrael Chai,” “Bring them home now,” and “Not Jews with trembling knees.”
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Zachary Leiter, Managing Editor; Peter Maheras, News Editor; and Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon, News Reporter
April 30, 9:03 a.m.
A community meeting has been announced and will be starting shortly. Food and coffee provided by campus cafe Grounds of Being is being served to encampment participants.
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 30, 8:24 – 8:53 a.m.
Maroons for Israel (MFI) returned to the quad to set up their installations taken down overnight. The group is also acquiring a new Student Centers board to replace the one that had been vandalized. This is the third time their approved installation has been taken down and rehung.
MFI told the Maroon that the “desecration of a University-approved installment” was “despicable and shouldn’t be tolerated at the University of Chicago.”
— Eva McCord and Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editors-in-Chief, and Zachary Leiter, Managing Editor
April 30, 7:50 a.m.
UCUP released a statement to the Maroon regarding the 10:32 p.m. update in which an individual who was near a dog and watching students rehanging their Israeli flags said “The dog smells some rats.”
“We have learned about a disgusting antisemitic comment made by an older adult man standing beside a dog near the encampment last night. While we are not aware of this person’s identity or affiliation with the camp, we want to reiterate that antisemites, racists, and bigots have no place in this action or coalition and are not welcome here. We are here for the people of Palestine — anyone trying to coopt the Palestinian struggle for their own bigoted ends has no place in our movement. To these individuals: stay as far away from our encampment as possible.”
— Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 30, 7:03 a.m.
The man who released a foul-smelling “non-toxic stink bomb” on the quad at 10:18 a.m. yesterday confirmed that he is back this morning. In screenshots of the order shared with the Maroon, the man purchased and released “SUPER STINK (Mega Size 60ml) – Fart Spray.”
Later in the day, he attempted to apologize to protesters with coffee shop gift cards. He claims to have checked Hallowed Grounds, Pret, and the University Bookstore for gift cards in the immediate vicinity, but the only place that offered gift cards was Starbucks. He purchased three $100 gift cards but stated the protesters “politely declined” the offer.
Media representatives from the encampment claim that the man approached non-student protesters.
— Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 30, 6:55 a.m.
According to the encampment’s media representative, around 5:30 a.m., two Palestinian flags near Harper Memorial Library were taken down, and outside individuals tried to wake up members of the encampment with loud music.
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 30, 6 a.m.
The encampment has entered its twentieth hour. The string of Israeli flags located across the quad from the encampment have been taken down. The Student Center sign, to which the flags had been tied, has been covered in phrases such as “Fuck Biden” and “U of C destroyed Bikini Atoll + now they want to destroy Palestine.”
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
A. Student / May 1, 2024 at 7:50 pm
Monkey see, Monkey do. Columbia has a protest and we have one too!
Jack / Apr 30, 2024 at 10:01 pm
I speak as a U of C alum, brother to another, and father to yet another. I am looking forward to my upcoming reunion in three weeks, but I am disheartened by the desecration that I am witnessing to our campus. Signs declaring “Intifada Revolution” and “Glory to All our Martyrs” (including the Hamas butchers who perpetrated Oct. 7, no doubt) leave me speechless. The belligerence and no-longer-latent antisemitism behind these sentiments are cause enough for administrative discipline, up to and including expulsion. These are clear violations of the Chicago Principles to which all students and faculty are required to adhere. There are plans, divulged by brave souls on line, that expose attempted occupation of University buildings tomorrow, May 1. Escalation and provocation are these so-called demonstrators’ marching orders, not dialogue and debate. Even our common language has been debased by their blatant perversion of terms like “genocide,” “complicity,” ” colonialism” etc. in defense of the indefensible. Despite my age, I will not be deterred from attending my reunion, and if confronted, I will stand up in defense of the values of the University that I so admire. Shantih.
John Doe / Apr 30, 2024 at 9:08 pm
“The Maghrib, or the sunset prayer, has begun”
Lol. A prayer where the opening exclamation proudly prockaims “Allah is the Greatest” and is then dedicated to the supremacy claim of Islam where the required testimony of faith loudly and shamelessly proclaims
“I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger” i.e. loudly claims that only Allah is a legitimate God compared to the faith tradition of any other religion and Muhammad who at 52 married a six year old Aisha and then had sex with her when she was nine, is this God’s last prophet and the perfect example for all human kind for all time. Further this God calls non-Muslims the “worst of creatures” (Quran 98:6)
and condemns them to eternal hell fire where he will BBQ them and when their skin falls off will put a new skin on them and continue torturing them till the end of time
And there will be woke idiots from other religions who will form a human chain to protect those claiming this loudly.
It’s like blacks forming a human chain to protect a KKK rally while the racists laugh, disparage and call them racist names.
The irony of it all. America you are so ignorant
Beth P / Apr 30, 2024 at 7:18 pm
Please print the list of TAs and Professors signing onto a commitment “not to teach or TA for any courses that feed into our intitution’s complicity with Israel…” so that students know what professors and TAs to avoid. What anti-intellecual absurdity for an institution dedicated to actual learning. Clearly these “protestors” are sorely lacking in middle eastern history. This is a sign that the common core needs to expand. These students are an embarrassment to UChicago.
Noah / Apr 30, 2024 at 10:11 pm
So, these students and professors shouldn’t be upset at the deaths of 30,000 people, the injuring of over 70,000 people, and the displacement of over 1,000,000 people?
John Doe / Apr 30, 2024 at 11:05 pm
There is a simple way to stop the civilian deaths in Gaza, independent of Israel you nincompoop. Let me spell it out for you
1) Hamas releases all the hostages
2) All Hamas fighters wear military uniforms to distinguish themselves from civilians
3) All the Hamas fighters march into the desert and duke it out with the IDF and die like fighters instead of the sniveling cowards they actually are
Why don’t the students at the encampment demand this from Hamas you ignorant hypocrite?
Well because, this has never been about preventing civilian deaths. It’s always been about anti semitic posturing which only an ignorant and misinformed idiot who only cares about peer status will believe. Unfortunately even in UChicago, there are many of this kind.
Beth P / May 1, 2024 at 7:24 am
My statement didn’t infer anything about people being upset or not upset about a war or the consequences thereof. A UChicago education should teach, and reflect, a broad range of views and the context for why wars happen. Professors and TAs engaging in a commitment to do the opposite, which is is what this idiotic petition is stating, is the opposite of a liberal arts education that requires engaging in inquiry, not cancellation of it. This “encampment” symbolizes the lack of context and nuance, glorification of violence and slaughter (this is not opinion, this is what their signs state), and a lack of intellectual honesty … all of which should be remedied by a rigorous education, not enabled by the professors and administration.
John Doe / Apr 30, 2024 at 7:12 pm
“The Muslims here, they heavily rely on the democracy here that America has created to solve their problems… And Islam says, You’re not allowed to do that. Islam says, help comes from the Muslims, not from any other people,” Abdeljamil said.
This is how it starts. Screw the Constitution. Only Islam matters. What ever Islam says takes precedence. If there is ever a conflict between the US Constitution and Islamic law, we will ignore the Constitution and do what we think Allah wants, even as we lie and swear an oath to the Constitution when we beg for US Citizenship to escape from our failed Muslim dictatorships only to want those same failed religious craziness enforced here
This is the entire problem if you import these kinds of people into the country. Sooner or later, they bring their asinine and intolerant logic and antisemitic and Christian hatred to Western democracies and expect all of us to live by the laws of seventh century caravan pillagers and slavers.
And clueless liberals in their suicidal empathy are letting these low lives into the US.
Anon Minority / Apr 30, 2024 at 7:00 pm
“Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., long-time civil rights activist and former U.S. presidential candidate, has arrived at the encampment. He is taking photos with protesters. ”
A disgrace to his children and grandchildren. This is not a noble cause. Not one of these spoiled, affirmative-actioned radicals are oppressed. He must not be well. Demented, perhaps? Imagining himself in the Jim Crow era—the last time anti-black discrimination existed?
Columbia is being raided as we speak. I implore Alivisatos to follow suit.
Amos / Apr 30, 2024 at 6:34 pm
Honestly they all seem like an image from a Lovecraft story. An unwholesome horde of Babylonian cacophony worshipping an accursed blasphemy in frenzy.
Maya B / Apr 30, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Nuke the quad. These people are embarrassing cosplayers trying to use a scenario they don’t understand to establish a shaky sense of self worth.
Anon Minority / Apr 30, 2024 at 6:50 pm
Amen to that. This is precisely what happens when you instill people with a victim complex right out of the womb. They can’t go a day without imagining oppression. On the one hand, I sympathize with how corrupted they are. On the other hand, they ought to be held accountable for their idiocy.
DEI and affirmative action at work, folks. You opened the floodgates during COVID and the Floyd delirium by removing standardized testing requirements and actively recruiting people who look like those in the exhibit—people who were held to a rock-bottom standard to begin with.
Now, campus is teeming with them. And it’s your fault, @admin. You reap what you sow.
Thank you, affirmative action, for ensuring this place/others in academia can be sieged by woke-addled, race radicals.
John For / Apr 30, 2024 at 5:04 pm
These protests have never been about Israel, Palestine or occupation.
It is about tacit and sometimes overt support for the blatant anti semitism that is built into the fabric of Islam that is hammered into every Arab’s brains since childhood.
Don’t believe me? Just Google the references provided in the parenthesis
Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Messenger said, “The Hour (judgment day) will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. “O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.” (sahih bukhari 2926)
You will surely find the most bitter towards the believers to be the Jews and polytheists ….. (Quran 5:82)
O believers! Take neither Jews nor Christians as guardians—they are guardians of each other. Whoever does so will be counted as one of them. Surely Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people (Quran 5:51)
Hadith: Tirmidhi 1602 That the Messenger of Allah said: “Do not precede the Jews and the Christians with the Salam (hello). And if one you meets one of them in the path, then force him to its narrow portion.”…
Quran 7:166-167: So when they exceeded the limits of what they were prohibited, We said to them: “Be you monkeys, despised (hated) and rejected.” And (remember) when your Lord declared that He would certainly keep on sending against them (i.e. the Jews)”
Quran 98:6: Verily, those who disbelieve (in the religion of Islam, the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad from among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and polytheists will abide in the Fire of Hell. They are the worst of creatures.”
When there is so much hatred in Islam against people of other faiths, anything and everything Muslims and their allies do will be colored by this hatred. Everything else is just a smoke screen.
Before you reply, don’t you dare tey to gaslight readers by deliberately conflating Muslim with Islam. Islam is a terrible toxic ideology incompatible with Western democracy because it does not recognize any other legitimate model of governance other than it’s own Jurisprudence.
This is the Ijma of the Ulema (the consensus of the Islamic scholars) notwithstanding what a pathetic Islamophilic Western apologist will claim
If you disagree, I challenge you to quote me any “tafsir” (commentary) from any early Islamic scholar that has a different take on the verses I have quoted that agrees with your position.
Now to the Palestinian question
1) A majority of Palestinians don’t want a two state solution. They want a one state Muslim majority country where Jews will be a minority. We all know what happened to the Jews who were in a minority in Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebenon, Iran, Egypt etc. Only a fool would agree to this
2) Why wasn’t a separate state of Palestibe formed between 1948 and 1967, when all the West bank and Gaza was in Arab hands? Well let me answer that for you: Because, it has never been about a two state solution. It has only been about wiping out Israel.
3) Here is another dirty little secret: When Muslims are in the minority, where they cannot completely dominate others, they will agitate for a separate homeland like they did in India for Pakistan and Bangladesh, but when they are in the majority they want to deny that right to the Jews or even fellow Muslims like in Bangladesh or the call for a separate homeland for the Kurds
Finally,
Almost every argument made by The pro-Palestinian side is inane and disingenuous. Let’s just look at just one of these idiotic arguments.
“Israel is a European settler colonial state”
Complete nonsense.
Mizrahi Jews (read Jews from the Middle East) are nearly 45% of Israeli population.
Israeli Muslims are another 21%.
European Jews are only 30% of the population, yet Israel is a European settler colonial state? Please…
Muslim Arabs are the poster boy example of settler colonialists. They spread Islam by the sword, took countless sex slaves whom they sold and violated sexually, castrated male African slaves and employed them to guard their Harems and destroyed native cultures in Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and many other countries. They destroyed or converted many Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Zoroastrian and Hindu places of worship because of their extreme and intolerant iconoclasm.
Finally when they were given a chance to have their own Palestinian state, the Arabs focused on wiping out Israel instead of creating a Palestinian state from the West Bank and Gaza which were in Arab hands till 1967. This alone should tell you that the entire Pro Palestinian argument is essentially performative
A majority of the Palestinians support a murderous death cult called Hamas which still has the destruction of Israel in their Charter. These Palestinians kept Hanas in power for decades
So spare me the righteous indignation about settler colonization here. It rings hollow.
John Doe / Apr 30, 2024 at 2:17 pm
UChicago admin. Grow a pair. These encampments are a violation of University policy as per the letter from President Paul himself.
FOR HEAVENS SAKE, TAKE SOME STRONG ACTION, INSTEAD OF A SOFT SLAP ON THE WRIST. OTHERWISE YOUR WORDS ARE JUST EMPTY NONSENSE.
Students need to realize that open violation of UNIVERSITY rules and policies has consequences. AND BE TRANSPARENT ABOUT WHAT YOU DID,
Noah / Apr 30, 2024 at 2:38 pm
I mean I think these students are fully aware that their actions might very well result in disciplinary action, but they feel that such a risk is worth it give the alternative in their own eyes is to be complicit for the death of over 30,000 people.
Alum / Apr 30, 2024 at 3:36 pm
Oh, come on. These are 4th derivative Marxist who are always at the ready to screech and scream about the “latest thing.” Floyd, Covid, Michael Brown, climate change, and now Gaza. I highly recommend spending your formative years acquiring solid skills, not dressing up as an activist in a tent.
Noah / Apr 30, 2024 at 4:17 pm
I don’t know about all that. Youre operating on a lot of assumptions and honestly you come across as not that interested in really discussing and examining what is happening so much as just wanting to scream your opinion (which isn’t necessarily bad – I mean we all want to be heard after all). But it seems a bit hypocritical given what you are critiquing the students for.
If these students are constantly exposed to images of the many individuals who have died in Gaza, and they believe the only way for them to gain enough power to stop that death and violence is these encampments, then I think their actions actually make a lot of sense.
Anon Minority / Apr 30, 2024 at 1:17 pm
“The fight for Black, brown, and all suppressed people of color is the fight for the liberation of Gaza and all Palestinian people,”
You do not speak for me. I loathe provocateurs like you who invoke my race to vindicate your mindless theatrics.
Being a diversity admit wasn’t enough for you? Do you understand how privileged one must be to neglect their studies (which they are paying thousands of dollars for) to throw a tantrum in a futile attempt to coerce the University into submitting to ill-defined demands?
You are not oppressed, far from it; you are more privileged and entitled than the oppressors you’ve imagined for yourselves. You dishonor our ancestors by bastardizing their fight for equality.
You are radicals. You are outlaws. You have no place on this campus. You ought to be arrested, trespassed, and expelled, forthwith.
At the very least, stop drawing attention to us. It’s hard enough being an underrepresented minority on this campus—knowing that I was admitted under inferior standards to my white and Asian friends, none of whom are partaking in this charade—as is.
Keep my name out of your mouth.
You do not speak for me.
Anon Minority / Apr 30, 2024 at 4:41 pm
I just paid a visit to this pity-parade-run-amok. The stench was overwhelming. And, as I suspected, not one Asian in sight.
To my horror, I spotted two friends emerging from the exhibit. I have since unfriended and blocked them.
These militants cannot be reasoned with. Their minds have been corrupted by the same woke mind virus infecting students and faculty alike (including the censors within the Maroon), and can only be cured with a reality check: arrest and expulsion
Our campus is under siege. We have affirmative action and DEI indoctrination to thank.
Bill Murray / Apr 30, 2024 at 6:22 pm
You sound awfully fragile for someone pretending to have such a fierce and uncompromising grasp on the truth.
Anon Minority / Apr 30, 2024 at 6:35 pm
You can do better than ad homs. (Can you? It’s always a gamble with DEI admits.)
Anon minority / Apr 30, 2024 at 6:50 pm
Minority here. Accessed my admissions file. Funnily enough, didn’t say anything about being a minority. It did say something about being an athlete. Think you should reassess who are the real DEI admits on campus (i.e – athletes and legacies).
Anon Minority / Apr 30, 2024 at 7:12 pm
1. Admissions files are heavily redacted and are encrypted. No admissions officer will explicitly write “DEI ADMIT/LOOK A BLACK PERSON ADMIT THEM!!!” on your file, silly; overt discrimination against Asians and whites is now unlawful. Covert discrimination, on the other hand…
2. “It did say something about being an athlete.” Surprise, surprise! You weren’t good enough to get in on brains, so you decided to dribble your way in.
3. “Think you should reassess who are the real DEI admits on campus (i.e – athletes and legacies).” This is a cope. Look at the case files from the affirmative action decision last year. There is overwhelming evidence that BLACKS and HISPANICS are held to a lower standard than their peers in college admissions.
You are a testament to UChicago’s extensive use of affirmative action/other discriminatory admissions practices. You are driven by emotion, not reality.
At least I accept that I’m a diversity admit. Why can’t you do the same? It’s very freeing.
Cope and seethe.
Alexi Assmus / May 7, 2024 at 8:46 am
I see many photos of Gaza encampment protestors across the country studying in their tents or on the grass. I have seen this in person as well.
Alum / Apr 30, 2024 at 12:38 pm
As an alum and an employer I must disclose to you what we, normal people with families and jobs, think about these cosplay activists. They are pathetic to us beyond belief, wasting their college years on imbecilic performative screeches like trained baboons. None of us will ever hire any of these freakazoids, a bizarre assemblage of harpies and soy boys.
Jacob Myrene / Apr 30, 2024 at 1:22 pm
Yeah I agree and all but we can do without the hubris. You DINOSAURS did the same thing with Vietnam. “Harpies” and “soy boys” flooded campus… and you probably smelled worse (I can’t imagine hygiene was important to LEAD-addled minds) … and here we are, decades later, you’re in power with a case of selective amnesia.
“None of us will ever hire any of these freakazoids” you hired yourselves. LOL
Off the high horse immediately. Other than that I agree
Alum / Apr 30, 2024 at 1:58 pm
Nah, I belong to the one worthy generation of the last 80 years – X. The one generation that can both code AND spell, and is free of performative radicalism. Be like us! Also, if you major in something idiotic (social sciences) it’s not too late to change course! Wash every day, no tattoos, definitely no piercings, and try to resemble an old-school Abercrombie ad, and you’ll be good!
Current student / Apr 30, 2024 at 3:01 pm
You must realize how nasty and disparaging you sound, right? Whether you agree with them or not, and whether you think their protests are effective or not, these are young students who are feeling, very deeply, for suffering people half a world away.
And all you can do is call them “freakazoids”? Compare them to baboons? Call them names, despite presumably being well into your 40s or 50s? You come off as utterly jaded and completely lacking empathy.
Ironically, you’re the one who needs to be told to grow up.
Alum / Apr 30, 2024 at 3:14 pm
LOL who cares how they’re “feeling?” I have a lot of feelings about all kinds of things, but I pray, or compose poetry, or get a massage. I do not riot, scream, dwell in filth, or cause trouble to express my “feelings.” Are you a toddler? Do try to be worthy of your greater gentlemanly sires.
Alum / Apr 30, 2024 at 3:34 pm
A thing we learn early on in life (assuming we have good parents), is the gap between feeling “deeply” about something and screaming and screeching about it. Decency and gentlemanly conduct must reign, filth and screams must be avoided. There – now I taught you how to be a functional human.
Curren / Apr 30, 2024 at 4:55 pm
Ah, I think I understand now! Thank you. Even if we feel deeply about something, that’s not an excuse to riot, dwell in filth, or cause trouble. Got it.
Well, there goes Selma, the Boston Tea Party, women’s suffrage, Stonewall, Occupy Wall Street, the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the Montgomery bus boycotts, the Woolworth sit-ins, Tiananmen Square, the American Revolutionary War, World War I, World War II—actually, scratch that, all wars, since they generally involve causing trouble and dwelling in filth.
Perfect—now we’re all “worthy of our greater gentlemanly sires.” Thank God we worked that one out.
Alum / Apr 30, 2024 at 6:53 pm
Yes, it’s totally the same. Dwelling in filth in the middle of campus while performing before an adolescent crowd is just the same as being in the French Revolution. Proportion is a gift from God, I suggest you begin to pray.
Another Current Student / Apr 30, 2024 at 5:14 pm
I don’t agree with the encampment or the protests, but you must seriously look in the mirror. You preach decency and gentlemanly conduct, yet your language is horrid and degrading. We’ve gotten to this terrible place because of polarization and people espousing hate. No one of any age should act like you.
Alum / Apr 30, 2024 at 6:52 pm
Right, there’s no difference between a harsh comment and the forceful taking over of a central part of the campus, raining filth, noise, and acrimony on one’s fellow students.
Bill Murray / Apr 30, 2024 at 6:25 pm
I, as a normal person and employer, find you absolutely morally bankrupt and an embarrassment for this university. I would never hire such a fragile baboon.
Alum / Apr 30, 2024 at 6:39 pm
Open your home to them if you are so welcoming. I’m sure your family would enjoy an evening of BO, screams, and a crowded living room. “No, well, that’s patently absurd! My home is not a public space, no, no, only others should suffer while I watch and cheer.”
Another Current Student / Apr 30, 2024 at 8:49 pm
Please get out of the comment section of your old school newspaper. I disagree with these protests, but you are not helping. These protestors, both students and non-students, want things to escalate and want nasty responses. Don’t give it to them. Please, please, please, if you want to respond, choose your rhetoric more carefully so as not to push people towards the protestors.
Alum / May 1, 2024 at 8:49 am
You are wrong, my young friend. You will never “persuade” these screaming ghouls. But you can surround them with a moat of ridicule. For who shall wish to join such a loathsome assemblage of screeching hordes howling into the moon-cursed night? The future holds nothing for them – no normal jobs, no families, no proud parents. Only piercings and frenzy.
Jacob Myrene / Apr 30, 2024 at 7:43 am
RISE AND SHINE, [REDACTED]! [REVEILLE BUGLE WAKE UP SOUNDS]
Will the campers leave for morning ablutions??? Or will they fester in their stank???? I bet it smells MUSTY. I CAN SMELL THEIR MORNING BREATH FROM NORTH.
And what’s the bathroom situation like? Spare some toilet pap—er, leaves.
Back to the stone ages… LOL. LOL.