PHOTOS: Students hold 'vigils' for Palestinian 'martyrs' as they demand universities cut ties with Israel

Students at several universities held vigils for “Palestinian martyrs” alongside Thursday’s national “walkout” events organized by National Students for Justice in Palestine. Campus Reform has obtained exclusive photos of some of these events.

University of Texas at Austin students held an “emergency vigil for Gaza” Thursday to “honor the thousands of Palestinians martyred by the occupation over the past 2 weeks.”

Students at San Diego State Univesity in California held a similar event Thursday, “in honor of our Palestinian Martyrs who have been murdered at the hands of Israel and the US-backed genocide.” 

An Instagram post promoting the event criticized University Preisent Adela de la Torre for her response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel, saying that “San Diego State University has failed to acknowledge the emotions and well- being of its Palestinian and Muslim students,” and that “Many students on this campus come from a Palestinian background, many of whom have lived through or have family who have lived through the ongoing occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine and of the Palestinian people.”

”Many of your very own students share similar stories where their families have been expelled from their homes and forced to flee their homeland. It pains us to see our own University, which is supposed to be a safe space, turn into a space where we are attacked and painted out to be the perpetrators and the oppressors. Is the University planning to recognize the Palestinian and Muslim students’ emotional and mental well-being to renew the commitment to our shared values and principles of diversity, inclusion, and respect?”

”We are DEMANDING San Diego State University’s President Adela de la Torre and the rest of the faculty to reassess this hateful and divisive rhetoric being spewed all over campus.”