First published Nov. 12, 2023 in Stories Beneath the Shell.
by Daryl Perry
Over 200 chairs. Over 200 hostages.
Each chair on the University of Maryland’s McKeldin Mall on Nov. 9 represented one person Hamas holds hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Dina Bash, a senior psychology major, said she hoped that the event would remind people of world events, “even though it’s half way around the world.”
“The war is still happening,” she said. “[240] people are still held hostage. And people should not forget that.”
Bash said she feels lucky to be a student at this university — compared to other campuses there have been few conflicts. At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, police arrested a student who punched a Jewish student in the face and spit on an Israeli flag. At George Washington University, the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter projected messages reading “Glory to our martyrs” and “Free Palestine from the river to the sea” onto a campus library last month.
It’s not just happening at college campuses. Videos of people taking down posters of hostages, falsely claiming that they are lies, have spread across social media.
It’s personal for Eytan Pomper, a junior kinesiology major at this university. His cousin, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, is one of the hostages being held in Gaza, among the people the hundreds of chairs on McKeldin Mall represented.
Towards the end of Sukkot, his father asked him to call. Eytan Pomper’s cousin attended the Supernova music festival in southern Israel and was now missing, his father said.
Goldberg-Polin was in a bomb shelter with others, hiding from Hamas militants throwing grenades into the shelter. He and his now-deceased friend threw the grenades back out, but one of the grenades blew off Goldberg-Polim’s arm. He tied his own tourniquet, stopping the blood flow, according to the Times of Israel.
Weeks later, a video surfaced of Goldberg-Polin being loaded into a truck with his injured arm, Pomper said. Goldberg-Polin’s last phone signal was pinged to Gaza.
Pomper said the event was peaceful and a good way to raise awareness without having to confront people who might find it off-putting.
“It’s nice, especially on a campus like Maryland where there are so many Jews, how everyone can come together,” he said. “[Regardless] of what their beliefs are, how religious or not religious they are, people are all together for a common cause for a common cause and common belief.”
Bash shares that feeling.
“I feel really grateful that we’re able to do these events on campus,” Bash said.
The university’s administration, both agreed, has supported the Jewish community. Bash pointed to university President Darryll Pines’ speech at the Oct. 9 vigil honoring lives lost in Israel.
Still, there have been many pro-Palestine events at the university, including Students for Justice in Palestine’s Shut Down Hornbake Plaza event on Nov. 10 calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Phrases chalked across the plaza ignited controversy.
“Free Gaza,” “Stop Funding War Crimes,” some read.
“Long Live The Intifada,” “Eat Shit Israel,” “Fuck Israel,” and “Holocaust 2.0,” others read.
Following controversy about the Holocaust 2.0 message, the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter told Stories Beneath the Shell the author meant to compare the current state of the Gaza Strip to the Holocaust, not call for a second Holocaust and condemned antisemitism.
Still, many saw the messages as antisemitic, including Rabbi Ari Israel, the executive director of Maryland Hillel.
“I’m comfortable with making sure Palestine is free,” he said. “I don’t believe it should be over the river to the sea sovereign state of Israel. That I believe is antisemitic.”
Students for Justice in Palestine argued that the call to free Palestine is not antisemitic and emphasizes that Jewish students are part of its organization.
“It’s the occupation, it’s the colonial, violent occupation of our homeland that we’re opposed to,” Ahlam, a Students for Justice in Palestine member who declined to give her last name, told Stories Beneath the Shell in a May interview.
Bash said those who call for a ceasefire are ignorant because there was already one in place before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
“They’re never going to stop trying to kill Jews,” she said of Hamas.
She emphasized that she does not want civilians in Gaza nor civilians in Israel to be killed.
“But I think after the attack on October 7,” she said, “there are things that Israel and the IDF have to do to take out Hamas, so that something like this never happens again.”
Featured image: Over 200 chairs sit on McKeldin Mall, each one representing a person Hamas is holding hostage in Gaza, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. Photo by Daryl Perry.
Joel Lev-Tov contributed to this report.
Update: The accurate number of hostages in Israel is 240, not 250 as Bash said. This article has been updated.
Leave a Reply