As violence rages on the other side of the world, students at Washington and Lee University are working together to process, mourn and raise awareness for the lives lost in the Israel-Hamas war.
Hillel President Gabby Kogan, ’24, said she is working through grief and fear the only way she knows how — by building a community of support.
“I don’t know how much longer this conflict will last. But I find solace and strength in the faces I see in front of me right now,” she said. “We will mourn together, we will heal together and continue to thrive together. And we will be here long after this conflict is over.”
The war hits close to home for students like Kogan who have family and friends trapped in war-torn areas.
Mohammed Mourtaja, ’25, who grew up in Palestine, said he can’t even text or call his loved ones to see if they are safe.
“The situation in Gaza cannot be described in words,” Mourtaja said. “No matter what you think, no matter what you believe, this is not acceptable.”
The conflict, which broke out on Saturday when Palestinian Hamas militants stormed from Gaza into Israel, has already claimed at least 2,300 lives, according to the Associated Press.
Tensions have been rising in Gaza, a small Palestinian territory bordering Israel and Egypt, since Israel began blockading the area in 2007. Israel declared war against Hamas after the surprise attack this weekend, and airstrikes since then have killed, injured and displaced thousands of Palestinian and Israeli civilians.
About 90 students, administrators and community members gathered at a candlelight vigil Tuesday night to honor the more than 1,000 Israeli lives lost so far. Chuck Rutberg, ‘26, said he and other members of Hillel feel a responsibility to raise awareness of the tragedy.
“Often, when bad things happen to the Jews, the world is silent,” he said. “We’re not.”
On Wednesday, leaders of Hillel invited students to place Israeli flags — one for every life lost — in the center of Stemmons Plaza. Sophia Soderberg, ‘26, said she hopes the display will encourage everyone to keep victims in their thoughts.
“It’s easy for people to put [the conflict] in the back of their mind and not really think about what’s happening because we’re not on that side of the world,” she said. “But to have something like this that you’re going to walk by every day and see is helpful to always remember it.”
Kogan is directing those who want to donate to Hadassah, an organization that provides medical supplies and treatment to people in Israel.
On the other side of the plaza, a group of Palestinian students and their supporters hosted an event on Wednesday to recognize civilian lives lost in Gaza. About 40 students, faculty and community members gathered in the atrium of the Center for Global Learning to share a moment of silence and pray for peace.
The event was spearheaded by Tania Kozachanska, ’26, and Ammar Alhajmee, ’26, who said they felt an urgency to give everyone, especially Palestinian students, a safe space to share their feelings.
Student speakers such as Mourtaja and Eman Muamar, ’24, urged the audience to listen to, and read media coverage of, all sides of the war.
“We cannot dehumanize Palestinians. We need to recognize the lives lost on both sides,” Mourtaja said.
Muamar, who was born and raised in Gaza, encouraged students to spread awareness of the Palestinian lives lost in any ways they can and donate to organizations like Medical Aid for Palestinians.
“The recognition of Gaza and Palestine is equally important to the recognition and attention that Israel has been getting, especially given the fact that the Gaza Strip has been going through this for the past 16 years, not just the past few days,” she said.
Members of Hillel said that their focus is also on educating students on the conflict and its effects. Simone Schwartz, ’27, said she hopes the flag display will cause people to take time to reflect on the violence and consider a new point of view.
“Our goal here is not to spark any sort of political controversy,” she said.
Some students, such as Angel Pilkey, ’25, said the very act of grieving can feel politically charged, even if students don’t intend it to be.
“While we mourn, we have to defend why we’re mourning. That’s something that’s difficult to navigate,” he said while placing flags on the plaza. “But it’s good to see that this community is here in support.”
I Stand With Israel • Oct 12, 2023 at 4:24 pm
Please refer to the barbaric individuals from Hamas correctly (available to check online) as terrorists. They are not militants. The recent attacks are terrorism, again factually available online. The “conflict” is not a conflict, it is a war. And there is a not an equal loss being experienced on “both sides”. The recent attacks were targeted attacks to murder Jews and destroy Israel, and that has been publicly stated by Hamas (and has been their publicly stated mission since their inception). This is a very pro-Palestine article which is disappointing in light of the tragedies against the Jewish people. The current “news” is about Jews being killed, and that is what the article should be about. This is (factually) not Israel vs. Palestine. I pray for Palestinians to live in peace and do not wish for any loss of their lives. This is Israel vs Hamas, a terrorist group with only one intention: killing as many Jews as possible. By even including a paragraph to imply Israel is to blame for the atrocities carried out -with joy and pleasure- of mass murder, rape, torture, kidnapping, of Israeli civilians is truly shocking and not accurate. Footage is available online of the grotesque nature of the Hamas terroristic acts being committed against Israelis.
free palestine • Oct 12, 2023 at 9:03 pm
If Hamas is a terrorist group so is IDF. Any harm Hamas has done is on the hands of Israel. They began the oppression, and violent resistance should be expected. Read “On Violence” from “The Wretched of the Earth” by Frantz Fanon. It is tragic for all lives lost. Not diminishing the horror for Jewish people, but there have been much more loss for Palestinians over the past 75 years.
Robert Owen • Oct 16, 2023 at 1:57 pm
So you want to play the equivalency game of Hamas vs Israel and promote the lie that Palestinians aee red the victims here. Hamas, from day 1 in their chapter, has had the mission of exterminating the Jewish people so equating Palestinian terrorism with Israeli self-defense (which I will remind you is a right guaranteed to all other nations EXCEPT Israel by the UN) is a lie.
I will also remind you that the majority of Palestinians support the destruction of Israel and the extermination of the Jewish people. Don’t believe me? Go spend a few days in their schools observing what the children are taught.
The people of Gaza have had several opportunities to have their own nation and each time have thrown it away because they will not renounce the goal of exterminating the Jews.
The physical suffering is of their own making as they repeatedly take money & supplies meant to improve their lives and use it to buy/build weapons with which to attack the Jews, including digging up water pipes to use in making casing for bombs, mortar rounds and missiles.
No, this situation is the result of the determination of the Palestinians to exterminate Jews and to try and blame Israel is nothing more than victim blaming and gaslighting
Robert Owen ‘88
Robert Owen • Oct 16, 2023 at 2:13 pm
So you want to play the equivalency game of Hamas vs Israel and promote the lie that Palestinians are the victims here. Hamas, from day 1 in their chapter, has had the mission of exterminating the Jewish people so equating Palestinian terrorism with Israeli self-defense (which I will remind you is a right guaranteed to all other nations EXCEPT Israel by the UN) is a lie.
I will also remind you that the majority of Palestinians support the destruction of Israel and the extermination of the Jewish people. Don’t believe me? Go spend a few days in their schools observing what the children are taught.
The people of Gaza have had several opportunities to have their own nation and each time have thrown it away because they will not renounce the goal of exterminating the Jews.
The physical suffering is of their own making as they repeatedly take money & supplies meant to improve their lives and use it to buy/build weapons with which to attack the Jews, including digging up water pipes to use in making casing for bombs, mortar rounds and missiles.
No, this situation is the result of the determination of the Palestinians to exterminate Jews and to try and blame Israel is nothing more than victim blaming and gaslighting
Robert Owen ‘88
Jessica Berliner • Oct 24, 2023 at 2:37 am
I 100 percent agree. This article is no better than most mainstream media which runs an anti-Israel propaganda campaign. Even by using the words “surprise attack” rather than “brutal murderous rampage that Jewish people have not seen since the Holocaust “is damaging and misleading. The next sentence states that airstrikes have killed thousands of Palestinians and Israelis. The majority of Israelis who have died were during the hours-long pogrom that Hamas terrorists carried out within Israel, not by airstrikes.
Stating that Israel is “blockading” Gaza is also grossly inaccurate. Palestinians have had complete control of Gaza since Israeli soldiers left in 2005. It’s unclear to me why Israel should allow Palestinians into Israel more freely than we allow people to cross into the US from our southern border. If the terrorist group Hamas were not voted into power by those who live in Gaza, and instead a peace-loving government who did not stand for terrorist activity was in place instead, I am sure Israel would have a near open border with Gaza. But how can Israel allow people to cross freely into her country when she has been the victim of terrorist attacks since Israel left? Even so, before Oct 7, 20K Gazans crossed into Israel each day to work. And this is how, it is thought, Hamas obtained such specific detail of the kibbutzim and was able to carry out these grotesque horrors.
Oct 7 is not anything Israel deserved. One day I hope people will really look at the photos of those who lost their lives that day – like people examine photos from Auschwitz.
This is war. People will die on both sides. That is what occurs in war. It is unfortunate so many more will lose their lives and I mourn for those lost on both sides. But now is the time we must say NEVER AGAIN.
Elle A • Oct 11, 2023 at 11:55 pm
Mr. Pilkey’s comment perfectly summarizes how so many of us feel. I hope Hillel works to educate students about the region’s history and the issues it faces today. Based on students’ social media posts, many W&L students are shockingly uninformed.