Members of the Leftist Collective and Bama Students for Palestine held a “Hands off Gaza!” rally on the Quad Thursday in protest of Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza and President Donald Trump’s proposed plans for the enclave.
The group of protesters held signs, gave speeches and participated in chants including: “Palestine will be free, Netanyahu to the I.C.C.”; “We want justice, you say ‘How?’, lift the siege on Gaza now”; and “Donald Trump/Netanyahu you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”
Janan Awwad, a University of Alabama at Birmingham alum who took part in the protest, said that she is using the “freedoms” she has in America in support of her parents who are Palestinian immigrants displaced from the region.
“Palestine is who I am, and I’ll never stop fighting for this,” she said. “I think it’s very important to always stay true to who you are, and whether there’re counter-protesters or not, I think it’s important to always come back to what is important to yourself.”
The war began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 others hostage. Israel’s offensive has since killed over 48,000 Palestinians.
The announcement for the rally came after Israel began to block all humanitarian aid attempting to enter Gaza, as Israeli officials accused Hamas of refusing a U.S.-backed outline for continuing talks for the second stage of a ceasefire agreement reached in January.
Omorose Emwanta, a sophomore majoring in neuroscience, said that the organizations want to see a ceasefire resolution and for the University to divest from direct and indirect ties with Israel.
The full list of demands also included that the University stop allowing Lockheed Martin — a defense contractor that has supplied Israel with munitions — to recruit on campus, rename Hewson Hall.
Bama Students for Palestine called on the University to rename Hewson Hall due to its association with Lockheed Martin.
In 2018, the University received a $15 million donation from Marilyn Hewson, then-president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, to benefit the Culverhouse College of Business. This donation then spurred other donations and resulted in the construction of Hewson Hall named in her honor.
The organizations previously held demonstrations in May, September and December. Each demonstration has drawn opposition from students supporting Israel, some of whom have accused the protests of being antisemitic, though organizers have denounced antisemitism.
Trenton Buffenbarger, a junior majoring in political science, was part of the group of counterprotesters. Buffenbarger said he is “pro-Israel” and “pro-Marilyn Hewson” and that the pro-Palestine demonstrators were trying to diminish Hewson’s achievements, including the millions of dollars in donations she gave to the University, by “erasing her name.”
Charles Adams III, a junior majoring in Spanish, said he was protesting not only for Palestinians, but for “any genocide that’s happening” currently.
“We’re protesting the war against Lebanon and Israel. We’re protesting the genocide against the Sudanese people,” he said. “We’re protesting capitalism, any institution that stands against the freedom of any group of people or persons in or around this campus. We don’t stand for it.”
Trump has said he wants the United States to take over the Gaza strip and rebuild it as “the Riviera of the Middle East,” including by forcibly removing Palestinians from the enclave.
“People are dying there,” Emwanta said. “There was famine occurring there. It’s extremely irresponsible, offensive to say such a thing.”
Emwanta also said that the counterprotestors didn’t bother her, saying that while she wasn’t a “fan of the things they said,” their presence lets her “know that people still care” about Gaza and the issues it’s facing.
“As long as we continue talking about this, our demands will be heard,” she said. “Whether or not they heard it, who knows? But the fact that they were here shows that we’re still going to have this conversation.”
