Students for Justice in Palestine Hosts Vigil for Victims of Israel-Gaza Conflict

Loyola students and members of the Students for Justice in Palestine gathered on the steps of the Information Commons Tuesday at 6 p.m. for a vigil honoring the victims of the conflict in Gaza. 

The event was organized just hours before it began by the board members of SJP following a bombing of a hospital in Gaza, which killed over 500 people Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

Included in the vigil were speeches from members of SJP and Omer Mozaffar, the Muslim chaplain and a professor of Islamic studies at Loyola. The speeches were followed by a prayer and candle lighting in honor of the Palestinian loss of life up to this point. 

“We gathered you all here today to commemorate the many lives lost, the martyrs from the past two weeks,” a member of the SJP board said in a speech to the crowd at the start of the vigil. “Unfortunately, we just got word today that there was yet another massacre at an al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza that was targeted earlier today.” 

Mozaffar said in an interview with The Phoenix he’s feeling a mixture of exhaustion, hope and determination. 

“Every human life is important,” he said. “No human life should be looked at as the enemy, but oppression should definitely be looked at as the enemy.”

Mozaffar said he wants students to use their voice and share what they are feeling while relying on each other for support and being respectful of their peers, Palestinian or not. 

Fatima Kazmi, a graduate student, said she attended the vigil because she wanted to support the community. Kazmi said she chose to opt out of classes for the first week of the conflict because she felt unsafe taking public transportation. 

Kazmi said as she was riding the bus Tuesday, she noticed two people verbally assaulting each other because of tension surrounding the conflict, heightening her fear of traveling alone in the city. 

She further cited the stabbing of a 6-year-old boy and his mother Saturday in Plainfield, resulting in the death of the young boy, AP reported. Kazmi said the boy and his mother lived 10 minutes from her home. 

“My aunt and uncle went to his funeral,” Kazmi said. “They asked me to come, but I just couldn’t gather myself to go.”

Kazmi said the vigil made her feel validated by her community. 

Second-year Bradley Boschman said he attended the vigil because he felt emotionally impacted by what he was seeing in the news. 

“This is an issue that I have known about, but I just haven’t had a lot of knowledge on the subject,” Boschman said. “This past week or two — however long it has been — I have really just taken the time to learn, especially from my Palestinian brothers and sisters and Muslim brothers and sisters.”

Boschman said although he has been feeling a lot of sadness surrounding the conflict from what he has read in the news, the vigil was a chance for him to express and feel that emotion fully. 

“I think this is the first time that I have really felt emotional about it, and just kind of allowing myself to let those emotions come out really,” Boschman said. “This was a great place for everyone to come together as a community and do so freely.”

SJP declined The Phoenix’s request for comment.

Mozaffar said although the event was planned by SJP, he encouraged students to create a community opportunity for grief and mourning.

“I kind of pushed them to do something,” Mozaffar said. “To help emote, to help focus a little bit on their own experience.”

Featured image by Max Bates | The Phoenix