Nearly 150 students attended The University of Wisconsin-Madison Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) rally against Israel’s violation of their ceasefire in Gaza Thursday on Library Mall.
Students from the Palestine Solidarity Committee, Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, Young Democratic Socialists of America and World Beyond War also attended the rally.
Leaders at the rally addressed the crowd, beginning chants like, “Disclose, divest, we will not stop we will not rest” and “Chancellor chancellor, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide.”
The Gaza ceasefire was approved by Israeli and Hamas officials on Oct. 8 and included the release of all living Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and Israel withdrawing forces to certain lines within Gaza.
“Israel agreed to retreat to a boundary running along the north, south and east of Gaza,” a BBC News article said. “But new videos and satellite images show that markers…have been positioned hundreds of metres deeper inside the strip than the expected withdrawal line.”
Israel has also violated the ceasefire by launching an airstrike that killed 26 Palestinians after a Hamas attack killed two of its soldiers, according to Reuters. The Israel military said the ceasefire was resumed after this attack.
Speakers at the rally directed their remarks to the tragedies in Gaza occurring during the ceasefire. “We want to say, as the students of UW-Madison, that we want to see that Gazan people are healthy and free and happy,” one speaker said. “But we cannot live in this situation when they are constantly being bombed and constantly being destroyed everyday.”
Others took aim at the university’s response to the spring 2024 pro-Palestine encampment.
“We will never forget what the university had done to us one Wednesday morning in 2024 during the protests that took place here at this very Mall,” another speaker said. “We remember the batons. We remember their shields, Mnookin bloodying their own faculty and students.”
As the rally continued, the group marched toward the Capitol, continuing their call-and-response chants.
“We are trying to show even in the face of blatant school repression, that we will never stop fighting for the people of Palestine,” the same speaker said. During the event, SDS emphasized that they will continue advocating.
Sabrina Ortiz, a UW-Madison sophomore and international student at the rally, agreed. “I believe also that there should be pressure on the university to speak out about this,” she said. “I want them to do something more about it with the so-called ceasefire going on.”
Last September, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin announced the university would no longer take a side on certain controversial matters following multiple university statements that received backlash from the UW-Madison community. These statements included those at the Faculty Senate meeting after Mnookin shut down the Library Mall Pro-Palestine encampment.
Despite that, students are determined to keep speaking out for Palestine.
“We are trying to show even in the face of blatant school repression, that we will never stop fighting for the people of Palestine,” one student said.
