Students Hold Commemorative Vigil for Oct. 7 and Israeli Hostages

A small group of students gathered on the West Quad Tuesday to commemorate last year’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel and recognize the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Roughly 10 students attended the event from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. which was organized by third-year Andrey Pikovskiy. The students read prayers in English and Hebrew from the Tanakh, discussed their personal experiences over the past year and held Israeli flags while sitting inside a circle of posters displaying pictures of the hostages.

Pikovskiy, a biochemistry major, said he applied with the Office of the Dean of Students to demonstrate in the space in accordance with the new changes to the university’s Community Standards, The Phoenix reported. 

The application process was surprisingly smooth and the Dean’s office checked in multiple times, according to Pikovskiy, who said he wanted to “keep the peace with the administration” while still having the event, despite being limited in where and when the event could take place.

Dean of Students Will Rodriguez was present throughout the entire event and said the application for the event had been submitted three days prior, as required by the new guidelines.

During the event, several students took turns describing how they first learned of the Oct. 7 attack and their experiences on campus since then. Some spoke about supporting Israel while also sharing their distaste for its current government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Fourth-year biology major and Loyola-Israel Student Alliance board member Natalie Ramirez said she is Roman Catholic, not Jewish, but she got involved with LISA because she was hurt by the idea of Jewish students being afraid to be open about their culture on campus.

“Some of these people are afraid to speak Hebrew,” Ramirez said. “Some of these people are afraid to wear the Star of David on the outside of their shirt, they purposely put it inside of their shirt and that shouldn’t be happening. So that’s why I got involved, someone from the outside.”

At least 180 ballistic missiles were launched by Iran into Israel Tuesday closely following an Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanon, the Associated Press reported. Pikovskiy said he received multiple videos from people showing missiles over various locations after he got out of an exam.

“It’s just very disheartening, because, you know, we killed Hassan Nasrallah, we thought it was over,” Pikovskiy said. “It was like, ‘Oh, we can finally, finally be done and it’ll be quiet.’ And it wasn’t that way.”

Another topic of discussion was how to open more lines of dialogue and better portray the participants’ message to the rest of the university community. Ramirez said the most common interactions are usually in passing with students taking pictures or scoffing while she would like them to approach and talk with her.

Ramirez said she’s found it easier to be supportive of Jewish and Israeli students on campus because of what she identified as a more open and welcoming atmosphere even for those not up-to-date on current events. 

She also said she supports the Palestinian people and thinks any war over land is an outrageous idea, but acknowledged it’s hard to support both Israel and Palestine simultaneously.

“Unfortunately, it’s been a lot of ‘What? You don’t know what’s going on?’” Ramirez said. “And ‘If you’re not with us, you’re against us. Why are you walking past our demonstration? You should be joining us.’ And I’m not going to just jump in and join something when they are showing that aggression.”

One student not affiliated with the event approached the group twice and began a conversation about why they were there.

The student, fourth-year cognitive behavioral neuroscience major Mikayla Cutler, said they are Jewish and hang a Palestinian flag in their home. They said they “came in hot” at first and needed to momentarily leave to collect themself so they could address one of their main concerns with the gathering — holding both the Israeli and American flags together.

“They’re not gonna change my mind, I’m not gonna change their mind,” Cutler said. “And I think that I honestly, I am so troubled by the fact that they have an American flag especially at something like this. Do I think it was a productive conversation? I think that as far as talking with people on different sides or who have these differing opinions on the issue, I think that’s as productive as it’s gonna get.”

Throughout the event a small number of people approached to look at the various signs with pictures of the remaining Israeli hostages and one woman took a photo with the group. Many students walking around or through the quad looked at the gathering or held up their phone cameras.