The pro-Palestinian protests also showed that hatred based on racial and ethnic identity has become the daily bread of Israeli students at USC.
Ezra Judani, a business student at USC, reflects that the protest by hundreds of pro-Palestinian students on the university campus “was intimidating because they were calling for the death of my people and nation.”
Judani was leaving school on Wednesday. It was the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Suddenly, he saw hundreds of people raising Palestinian flags and shouting intifada.
“They were shouting for the death of Israel and the death of the Jewish people,” he told La Opinión. “He was very scary and intimidating.”
He and his Jewish friends were shocked. They were standing and observing what was happening in his university house.
“I felt safe; I didn’t fear for my life,” she stated. “There were many DPS (Department of Public Safety) officers from the university who provided security and later also many police officers. But it was definitely intimidating to see so many people calling for the death of a people and their nation.”
Ezra, 22, said the protesters were shouting “Antifa! Antifa!”
Antifa is short for “anti-fascist,” a movement of far-left protesters who oppose fascism, as well as racism, xenophobia or homophobia.
“They were screaming for the destruction of Israel,” he recalled. “They said that the wicked had to be defeated from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea; “They called for genocide and the abolition of the entire Jewish State.”
The White House condemned anti-Semitism and calls for violence against Jews amid protests on US college campuses.
Ezra Judani indicated that in the Israel-Palestine war it is important to have dialogues.
“I think it’s the only way to solve this problem, but it’s not in our hands right now,” he said. “We are simply [en el campus de USC] here to show unity with our fellow Jewish students. “We are here and we are not going to let these gigantic protests across the country intimidate us.”
The USC student does not consider the death of more than 34,000 Palestinians to be a genocide as opponents of Israel call it.
“No, I don’t think it’s genocide because the Israeli army and its soldiers are also taking care of Palestinian civilians and making sure we don’t harm any of them as much as possible,” he responded.
“Of course, it is a war; there will be deaths and civilian casualties. But the Israeli military is making sure to do so specifically, targeting Hamas terrorists who are unfortunately hiding among the civilian population of Gaza,” he stated.
How do you think it would be possible to end this war or conflict between Palestinians and Israelis?
“I think the only way is to make sure that terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah are completely eliminated and no longer exist anywhere causing terror in Western nations,” the student said.
“Western nations like Israel and we must fight for the abolition of these terrorist organizations so that they can no longer spread terrorism throughout the world.”
Together with Ezra, dozens of Jews set up several tables where they placed chairs with photographs of the Israelis kidnapped in October 2023. They placed empty cutlery and plates, a sign that they have spent more than 200 days without eating with their families.
“It is the saddest table because we are currently celebrating the Passover holiday in the Jewish religion and the Passover festival is the reminder for the Jewish people of our exodus from Egypt, where we were also trapped as slaves, and then we became free. to Israel and we became free people,” he said.
“Unfortunately, at this moment we are not all completely free and there are still many hostages in Gaza, locked in terrorist tunnels.”
The performance was planned in advance, and had nothing to do with Wednesday’s protests, but to unite all the Jewish students at USC, and bring everyone together to ensure the message of bringing home all the hostages.
At least 130 people are believed to still be held in Gaza, out of the initial 240 hostages taken by Hamas terrorists.
One of them, Hersh Golberg Polin, an Israeli-American said in a video statement that Israeli artillery strikes on Gaza have killed “almost 70” of the captives.
In a joint letter, the United States and 17 other countries offered Hamas “an immediate and extended ceasefire in Gaza,” in exchange for the release of hostages.
In addition to the United States, the letter is signed by Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
Hamas responded that it is open to proposals addressing a permanent ceasefire and the “basic rights” of Palestinians.
“The numbers of civilian deaths are low”
Charlotte Korchak, senior international educator at the organization StandWithUs Israel, told La Opinión that she believes many of the USC students [y UCLA] They really don’t know they don’t know why they’re protesting.
“I think there is a lot of misinformation about what is happening in Israel and why we are fighting this war,” he said. “People who use terms like genocide for a war of self-defense. Has no sense”.
Despite the more than 34,000 Palestinian deaths, according to the April 26 Committee to Protect Journalists report, and at least 97 journalists, and 1,200 deaths in Israel’s West Bank, Korchak expressed that “when the numbers are also so low In terms of civilian casualties compared to the number of terrorists who have been eliminated, the target of the war is Hamas, a radical Islamic terrorist organization that actively calls for genocide against the Jews.”
“We are fighting Hamas and people don’t understand it at all,” he said. They changed the narrative and think that Israel is the aggressor. Is not true. Israel was attacked. And I think they are very wrong and there is a lot of misinformation about what really happened on October 7 and what has happened since that date.
So, what is the real information? What is the truth?
“Hamas, a radical Islamic terrorist organization that invaded Israel on October 7 and massacred more than 1,200 people. Its objective is the elimination of the Jewish people. It says so in its statutes. “Israel has been defending itself from that terrorist organization,” responded the international professor.
So do you think Israel’s current response is the correct one, knowing that the majority of deaths have been women and children?
“Well, actually, the problem is that we don’t know if those numbers are accurate. In fact, even Hamas itself came out two weeks ago and said, “we have 11,000 people whose whereabouts are missing.” We’re not even sure if they were actually killed or not; “There are at least 10,000 to 12,000 Hamas terrorists who have been killed in Gaza.”
“And then, if we still take the 33,000 [muertos], that number means that 20,000,000 innocent people have been murdered. That is a tragic number. There’s no way to minimize that. The loss of life is tragic,” he added.
“That said,” he added, “in war, when attempts are made to kill combatants and they hide among the civilian population, unfortunately innocent people die. There has never been a war in history in which innocent people were not killed. And in fact, the ratio that we have created of one terrorist for every one, we have killed one or two innocent civilians, is one of the lowest.”
Due to the above, Charlotte Korchak maintained that referring to the history of the war between Israel and Palestine, referring to it as “genocide”, “that is a setback.”
“The average of war is, for every combatant, nine innocent civilians die. So when you have one of the lowest ratios in the history of war in an unprecedented environment. That? “Good!” he declared.
“We are talking about terrorists who have embedded themselves in a civilian population. They use schools, hospitals, they use mods to fight, they hide among the innocent,” he stated. “Civilians have built tunnels between 350 and 450 miles long. New York’s subway system is 248 miles long; “They have a network of tunnels under Gaza that is larger than the New York subway system.”
“What do people want Israel to do? Do they want Israel to just say, okay, you can kill?,” she asked herself and answered. “To defend ourselves, innocent people may have to die. It is such a tragic equation that Hamas has put us in. And if we allow them to use this strategy, then terrorists will rule this world because they will use our humanity against us every day. I don’t want more innocent people to die. I want Hamas to surrender. I want the hostages released. And this war could end today.”
What do you think is the solution to the war and the end of antagonism in the United States?
“You know these people who are participating in the demonstrations at all the universities. What we need is more education; we need more people to see the truth. “We need more people to stop functioning solely based on their emotions and what they see in videos without context and understanding,” Korchak said.
In the end, the professor stressed that: “I defend both the Israelis and the Palestinians. I want Palestinians to have self-determination. “That they have their own house to be able to live with independence, dignity and freedom.”
“And I want you to challenge any of those people on campus.” [de USC que están protestando] and ask them: do you believe in a Jewish state? I believe in a Jewish state and Palestinian self-determination. I want both peoples to live side by side in peace in their own countries, with independence and freedom. Ask them if they support the existence of a Jewish state and I guarantee you that you will not find a single person who will say yes. That is the problem, they believe that for them to be free, I cannot be free.”
He concluded by saying that he believes that “we should all be free on both sides of that border.” [de Gaza] and the only way to do that is to get rid of Hamas and try to embolden the Palestinian people to stand up and speak out against their tyrants, which is Hamas. And demand a better future from them, but death and destruction are not the way to get rid of Hamas. Killing more Israelis is not the way to get rid of Hamas. We have to end the violence. And, by the way, we can get rid of Hamas easily. “They have to surrender and free the hostages.”
An image of Noa Argamani, 26, was in the symbolic display in front of the entrance to the USC campus.
Argamani was kidnapped during attacks by Hamas terrorists while she was at a music festival.
“She was kidnapped on a motorcycle. She was taken to Gaza and we have no idea what her condition is and her mother is dying of brain cancer,” Charlotte Korchak said. “His dream of her is simply to see her daughter. One more time”.
On the empty table of diners there was also a photograph of Ariel Bibas. Her father, her mother, Shiri Bibas, 32, her husband, Yarden, 34, and children Ariel and Kfir Bibas were kidnapped on October 7. Shiri’s parents, Yossi and Margit Silberman, were killed by Hamas militants in the attack.
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