Students for Justice in Palestine conduct a protest at The Schottenstein-Chabad House at Ohio State on 1996 Luka Ave. on Monday in response to Chabad hosting two Israel Defense Force Soldiers for conversations with students. Credit: Brie Blevins | Senior Lantern Reporter
Approximately 60 Ohio State students and community members gathered outside the Schottenstein Chabad House — located at 1996 Iuka Ave. — to protest an event featuring two Israeli Defense Force soldiers Monday evening.
The protest — held by Students for Justice in Palestine — began at 6:30 p.m. and was organized in response to Chabad hosting a 7:30 p.m. dinner conversation with Saar Arie and Maya Desiatnik, two former Israeli Defense Force soldiers. Arie was a 1st sergeant in the Givati infantry brigade, while Desiatnik was an IDF Border Protection sergeant.
The two were brought in by Belev Echad, an international, pro-Israel nonprofit dedicated to the rehabilitation and support of IDF soldiers through medical, legal and financial means, according to its website.
Jineen Musa, a third-year in health sciences and co-president of SJP, said the organization’s members believe Arie’s and Desiatnik’s roles in the war in Gaza make their presence on campus objectionable.
“We feel that after perpetrating and helping uphold a system that has allowed for 15 months of genocide, plus 76 years of oppression for the Palestinian people, that you should not be welcomed on a college campus in America and expect to be here without any sort of pushback or any sort of opposition to your arrival,” Musa said.
SJP member Miriam Saab, a third-year in English and sociology, said she thinks the public’s disapproval of the IDF’s activity in Gaza and the West Bank gives further illegitimacy to Chabad’s event.
“These people should be tried by international courts, and the International Court of Justice has said that it is a genocide taking place in Gaza,” Saab said. “And yet, these people are welcome, welcome not only on this campus, but also just into the country itself — it’s unbelievable.”
According to the Associated Press, the International Court of Justice “did not rule on the core issue of whether Israel’s devastating military offensive against Hamas amounts to genocide.” At the same time, the court “did not rule out the possibility that Israel is conducting genocidal acts” and “found that concerns about possible genocide merit further review.”
In a Sunday Instagram post, SJP stated it “vehemently [opposes] any attempts to commemorate or honor war criminals, in addition to any acts of normalization with the zionist entity.”
“We will not stand by and allow them to be welcomed onto our campus,” the post stated.
The demonstration included chants and drumming, with many SJP members and other protesters aiming derisive comments at students entering the event, some of whom responded to the crowd formed at the bottom of the house’s entrance stairs.
Protest attendees participated in chants like “We demand liberation from the zionist occupation” and “There are war criminals in this building,” which were punctuated by air horns and honks from passing cars.
The Columbus Division of Police dialogue team stood close by, while some individuals in the Chabad House took videos and observed from above.
Chants and drumming continued until the event ended at around 8:50 p.m.
The Chabad House declined to comment.
