'Israel, Israel, you can't hide': Penn State students rally in favor of Hamas

In the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians, two student organizations at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), along with a number of local organizations, held a “Day of Resistance” supporting Hamas.

An Instagram statement named the university’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity (SCDS) as two of the five organizations that “joined solidarity” for the protest. The statement also estimated the number of attendees at “over 200.”

At the event, protesters erupted into chants of “no justice, no peace,” “Israel, Israel, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” “not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes,” “stand up, fight back,” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” 

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Protesters wore masks to protect their identities and carried signs, with one reading “Free Palestine.”

The statement, released after the protest, characterized the attacks as a ‘Palestinain uprising’ and commended Palestinians as “courageous.” 

“[I]t is critical that all progressive forces openly state their support for the national liberation struggle of the Palestinian people and their right to pursue self-determination from colonial domination,” it reads.

The statement puts the word “Israel” in quotation marks as “it has never been a legitimate state or nation but an ongoing, settler colonial project laid on top of Palestine, servicing Euro-American imperial interests veiled by the colonial ideology of z*onism, not Judaism.” 

The statement censors the words “Zionist” and “Zionism” as “z*onist” and “z*onism.” However, a disclaimer reads that “[t]o avoid censorship, in ‘z*onist,’ the * replaces the letter ‘i.’”

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“Today, the courageous people of Palestine face more than a humanitarian crisis - they are confronting the barbarous execution of premeditated genocide,” the statement goes on to say. “We recognize that the Palestinian uprising is a direct result of over 75 years of the z*onist colonial state of ‘Israel’s’ brutal occupation of Palestine.”

“We applaud Palestinians for their incredible bravery and steadfastedness [sic] in the face of a colonial power that seeks to destroy their very existence,” the statement continues.

“We stand with Students for Justice in Palestine and members of the Palestinian diaspora in their fight, and all individuals and organizations fighting for a world free from the terrors of imperialism and z*onism: a world at peace,” the statement concludes.

The Penn State media relations department clarified that “This group is not a recognized student organization and has no official affiliation with the University.”