Nearly 1,000 people gathered at White Plaza on Friday in a rally to demand the University express support for Palestinian students and opposition to Israeli retaliation in Gaza and the West Bank.
Across various speeches and a march from White Plaza to Memorial Church to Meyer Green, protestors called for the University to explicitly acknowledge war crimes committed by Israel and the history of the Israel-Gaza conflict, including the 75-year-long occupation of Palestine.
Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), who organized the rally, asked for a statement explicitly condemning verbal and physical violence against Palestinian students, alongside a commitment to keep them safe with resources developed in partnership with the Arab Students Association, Muslim Student Union and other student organizations.
SJP urged the University to divest from corporations they said profit off the Israeli occupation of Palestine, like Palantir and Microsoft.
The rally comes amid Israeli airstrikes that killed more than 3,000 Palestinians in Gaza and an ongoing siege that cuts off access to food and water. Israel launched its retaliation in response to an Oct. 7 surprise attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas that massacred more than 1,400 people. Nearly 200 people were taken hostage, Israeli authorities said.
President Richard Saller and Provost Jenny Martinez condemned Hamas’ “deliberate attack on civilians” in an Oct. 11 email that followed a letter signed by dozens of faculty.
In an Oct. 19 email to students, Saller and Martinez expressed concern for safety and wellbeing on campus. According to the email, the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) is investigating “several incidents” on-campus related to the “violence in Israel and Gaza.”
On Friday, leaders and organizers from SJP stood on the White Plaza stage. Many of them covered their faces with sunglasses, masks and scarves. Some speakers did not provide names before…
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