Content warning: this article contains mentions of violence.
About 300 University of Michigan students and community members gathered outside the President’s House Friday afternoon to protest the Oct. 10 statement released by University President Santa Ono in response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Demonstrators said they were protesting in part because Ono’s statement did not include any mention of Palestine or the Palestinians who had been killed or displaced by the Israeli government. The sit-in was organized by the University’s chapter of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality in collaboration with the United Asian American Organizations, Graduate Employees’ Organization, Arab Student Association and Young Democratic Socialists of America.
Israeli warplanes have been bombing the Gaza Strip since Tuesday, in response to a planned attack by Hamas last Saturday which killed more than 1,000 people and took over 100 hostages. Following the attack on Israel last Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on Hamas on Oct. 8. Over the next week, the Israeli military carried out a series of land and air attacks which killed at least 2,288 people in Gaza and wounded more than 8,714 others. As of Saturday, the death and injury toll on both sides continues to rise following almost a week of heavy fighting and attacks. On Friday, the Israeli military called for Gaza Strip residents to evacuate their homes, in anticipation of an expected ground invasion, displacing over 1 million people. Israel also halted the entry of food, water, most electricity and medical supplies into Gaza, in a “total blockade” in response to the attacks last Saturday.
The sit-in started at the President’s House with the protestors uniting in their chants: “Ono, Ono, you can’t hide, you need to mention Palestine,” “Resistance is justified when people are occupied”, among many more chants. The protest moved north up South State Street around to the Diag with the Ann Arbor Police Department escorting the protest by blockading the streets. The crowd then returned to the President’s House for the sit-in portion of the protest, to sit outside the front lawn listening to the organizers’ statements.
An Arab Student Association member at the protest, who has requested anonymity for fear of retribution for sharing their support for Palestine, said in an interview with The Michigan Daily that a number of students have felt unsafe on campus after being harassed for their support of Palestine in public and on social media.
“(The Arab Student Association has) put up posters to provide context about the war that’s going on, that’s been declared, and they’ve been ripped down, we’ve been flipped off,” they said. “(Ono’s statement) very clearly made every student on this campus, Muslim or anyone who’s pro-Palestine, scared to speak out … We don’t want to get flipped off on campus for wearing a keffiyeh or hijab or wearing a necklace that has a Palestinian map, or anything like that.”
Zaynab Elkolaly, SAFE director of activism, was one of the main speakers at the protest. In an interview with The Daily, Elkolaly said the protest aimed to combat all forms of bias and bigotry.
“I want people on campus to know that this is not a religious or ethnic conflict or war, despite what media might be trying to portray,” Elkolaly said. “It’s being misconstrued as such to pit people against each other and prevent actual unity. We’re here to protest any form of bigotry, settler apartheid, settler colonialism or apartheid, regardless of the identity of the oppressor. … This is simply us standing up for fundamental human rights.”
In an interview with The Daily, an Ann Arbor resident, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retribution for sharing their support for Palestine, said they attended the protest in support of their friends and family in Palestine. In 2022, Israeli forces broke into, raided and shut down seven Palestinian human rights and humanitarian groups’ offices in the West Bank, which the United Nations condemned later that year.
“I have family in Palestine, and it breaks my heart every day that their voice is suppressed,” they said. “They are unable to make any movements without being tracked, without their lives being in danger. Me being here in the United States, I have the privilege to be able to attend this teaching, and not only be able to educate people, but support a cause that needs support from worldwide nations.”
Two hours after the protest began, Ono released a second statement addressing the impact that the violence in the Middle East has had on the campus community. Ono did not directly address the protestors, but wrote that he stood by his first statement.
“To be clear, I stand by my earlier message that unequivocally condemns the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel,” Ono wrote. “Speaking with moral clarity against any act of terrorism is not, and should not, be controversial at the University of Michigan.”
Ono also addressed the recent violence that has been happening in the region, including Palestine, in the days since Israel’s declaration of war.
“As the fighting continues, the death toll is mounting among Israelis and Palestinians,” Ono wrote. “Our campus community is grappling with the profound scale of this unfolding tragedy. We mourn the loss of lives in both Israel and Gaza.”
Ono wrote that campus safety is the University’s highest priority and that University leadership is committed to creating a community where all students, regardless of their background or appearance, can learn without fear of threats, intimidation or violence.
“We care deeply about everyone’s safety and have created mechanisms and programs that allow us to honor that promise,” Ono wrote. “We will continue to defend everyone’s right to speak freely … But we will not tolerate violence. Your life matters. Our lives, collectively, matter.”
At the protest, Elkolaly read Ono’s second statement aloud, which was met with the crowd booing and chanting for Ono to “resign.” Elkolaly said Ono is erasing the Palestinian identity entirely by failing to address the root causes of the violence and resistance in his statement.
“(Ono’s statement) is not protecting us,” Elkolaly said. “(His statement) is protecting the dominating narrative … This is about decades of colonialism and apartheid. This is not just one geopolitical war.”
A number of U-M faculty and staff released a response Friday morning to Ono’s original statement, which currently has more than 800 signatures from U-M faculty members. In the statement, faculty members wrote that they did not condone/agree with the U-M administration’s decision not to address Palestinian students affected by the ongoing war.
“As an institution of research and teaching, all of us, and in particular our leadership, have an obligation to inform and support while underscoring that everyone’s life counts,” the statement read. “President Ono’s statement, which represents the singular university-wide communication about this violence, egregiously falls short of this obligation.”
University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald wrote in an email to The Daily that the University has a long history of student activism around pressing issues facing society. He wrote that the University is supportive of students’ right to protest.
“(The University) will continue to defend everyone’s right to speak freely – and just as vigorously defend the rights of those who believe otherwise to speak just as loudly,” Fitzgerald wrote. “Freedom of speech is a bedrock principle of our community and essential to our core educational mission as a university.”
On Thursday, the Muslim Student Associations from all three University campuses released a joint statement criticizing Ono’s message, saying it silences the voices of Palestinian students.
“It is deeply ironic that a University priding itself in the diversity and equity of all people turns a blind eye toward these injustices and moreover to the safety and concerns of Palestinian and Muslim students,” the statement read. “You have failed in making us feel protected and heard, but we will continue to speak up against injustice and miseducation.”
Elkolaly closed the event by thanking the crowd for their attendance. Elkolaly said it takes real courage to protest for Palestine because advocates are not always protected. Across the U.S., many people have been fired over the past several years for openly expressing their support for Palestine.
“Nobody that advocates for Palestine here is fully protected, the way that our oppressors are,” Elkolaly said. “Thank you for being here. You’re on the right side of history. Your courage here is inspiring.”
Daily News Editor Sejal Patil and Daily Staff Reporter Sneha Dhandapani can be reached at news@michigandaily.com.