‘Savage’: US College Students Condemn Hamas, Show Solidarity With Israel at Lincoln Memorial
by Dion J. Pierre
George Washington University students gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial on October 8, 2023 to mourn the deaths of Israelis killed during Hamas’ attack on Israel. Photo: Sabrina Soffer/Instagram.
Students from George Washington University assembled in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on Sunday to show solidarity with Israel in the wake of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ shocking surprise attack over the weekend.
“We are here for each other, for our parents, for siblings, our grandparents, our aunts, our uncles our friends, but the reality is that all of Israel, the Jewish people, Arab, Druze, Muslim, Christian, we are a family and so is everyone here with us today,” third-year student Sabrina Soffer, who organized the demonstration, said during a speech to open the event. “We are frustrated, we are angry, and that’s an understatement. This surprise attack is full scale and savage war by Hamas is a shock to us all.”
Soffer concluded by calling on Israelis and Jews around the world to be resilient, adding, “Our friends, our families, are on the front lines fighting for the security of our nation, our people. We are here for you.”
Meanwhile, in New York City’s Time Square, a pro-Palestinian rally sent a starkly different message. Praising the violent actions of Hamas, which over the last few days has murdered hundreds of Israelis and taken at least dozens captive back to Gaza, the pro-Palestinian crowd chanted, “Palestine will be free.”
During the rally, a pro-Palestinian sympathizer displayed in full view a picture of a swastika, the symbol of Adolf hitler’s Nazi Party, on his cellphone.
A local newspaper called the pro-Palestinian rally “vile,” while Jewish civil rights groups insisted that support for Hamas’ violence reveals the presence of antisemitism in the anti-Zionist movement.
“As history has shown us, the hatred that engulfs Jews never stops with Jews but rather engulfs everything in its path,” tweeted StopAntisemitism, a nonprofit that tracks antisemitic incidents across the world. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) added on Sunday that others who participated in the New York City protest “denigrated or called for the exclusion of Zionism and Zionists from public life and promoted antisemitic tropes.”
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