UM students rally for Israel, call for Hamas to release hostages

Ann Arbor — At least 200 students and community members rallied for Israel on the University of Michigan Diag Wednesday, calling for the safe return of civilian hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 and an end to Jewish hate.

Six months ago Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 others, according to the Associated Press. Roughly half of the hostages were freed during a temporary ceasefire in November, but Israel says 134 remain in captivity and has already declared more than 30 deceased.

Wednesday's rally was organized by several local organizations including Wolverine for Israel, the Jewish Resource Center, Michigan Hillel and Chabad House. The goal was to remember what happened on Oct. 7 and rally to bring hostages home, said UM junior Evan Cohen, president of Wolverine for Israel.

"It's incredible to see that support, but also incredible for students to know that they have people that are supporting them and that they're not alone on campus," Cohen said. "We continually want our students to know that they can be proud Jews. They can be proud Zionists."

The group held a moment of silence for the 134 hostages and prayed several times for their safe release. At the same time, a group of at least 20 people supporting Palestinians stood silently to the side of the rally holding signs that read "anti-zionism ≠ antisemitism," "Jewish students say down with imperialism defeat Zionism" and "UMich Jewish for liberation of Palestine."

Following the Oct. 7 attacks, Israel declared war on Hamas and launched a military assault in Hamas-run Gaza that has resulted in over 33,000 Palestinian deaths in the following six months, according to Gaza health officials, whose death toll doesn't distinguish between civilians and Hamas fighters. About two-thirds of the dead are women and children, according to government officials, a United Nations report said more than 1 million people there face imminent starvation.

There have been pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the Ann Arbor campus and ramped-up calls for the University of Michigan to divest endowment funds from Israeli companies over the last six months, including a recent protest that disrupted the UM Honor's Convocation ceremony and others on the diag and at the UM administration building. The UM Board of Regents has said it won't divest any investments from its $17.9 billion endowment and that less than 1% of the university's endowment are spent on indirect Israeli investments.

UM Sophomore Josh Levine attended Wednesday's rally and said there have been few events like it since last fall, adding that it was nice to see people on campus who are proud to be Jewish and support Israel. Levine said he was proud to support Israel in addition to a two-state solution and Palestinian rights.

"In reality, I think you can support both, and we're here just purely asking for hostages to be brought home," Levine said. "I think it's important that we show that there is a community here on campus that still supports Israel and wants these hostages to come home because there's such a vocal community on campus that's supporting Palestine, and like supporting BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) and divestment."

Cohen also said it is one of the most divisive periods he has seen on campus. He'd like to see more unity, in addition to students continuing to educate themselves and challenge their own beliefs.

"I would love for the campus climate to get better. I think my biggest hope would be for dialogue between a variety of different groups who have a whole variety of different opinions," Cohen said. "At the end of the day, everyone really wants their families and loved ones to be safe."

UM junior Josh Brown is on the Board of Wolverine for Israel and said he was happy to see so many people show up to call for the release of the hostages as well as safety and peace in Israel.

"There's been a lot of Jew hatred on campus, and antisemitism on campus," Brown said. "I think the goal, also in part, was to show that as Zionists we are strong and proud of our Zionism and our Judaism, and we will not be intimidated or be silenced by anyone."

The New York-based End Jew Hatred group called on UM President Santa Ono on Wednesday to adopt a draft policy outlining what happens if activists disrupt university events. The policy was proposed last month after pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted the university's honors convocation and is part of the latest attempt to address campus tension surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.

"In light of President Ono’s hesitation to actually implement any policies specifically designed to protect Jewish students from harassment and discrimination, or the student body from the continual harassment by disruptive pro-Hamas demonstrators, we are calling for a top-down change at the university, and will no longer accept general, meaningless statements," said Adar Rubin, director of mobilization with #EndJewHatred, in a statement.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan last week told UM officials in a letter that they needed to abandon the proposal or substantially alter it, while local representatives from the National Lawyers Guild argued the university should withdraw the policy. If enacted, the proposed policy's overbroad, ambiguous language could lead to uneven self-censorship and discriminatory enforcement against peaceful protesters, the ACLU argued.

hmackay@detroitnews.com