On the evening of November 3, peaceful protestors gathered outside of Campus Center Meeting Room Four. Inside the meeting room, two former Israeli Defense soldiers met with Stockton’s Chabad Jewish Student Group to share their personal stories of challenges and trauma.

The event, “Modern Day Maccabee” was intended to give an eye-opening message of courage, sacrifice, and a deep appreciation for Israel. Because of this, pro-Palestine students rallied for the other side, which lead to a quiet protest outside of the event room.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the world’s longest-running issues. At its core, it is a conflict between the Jewish Zionist project and the Palestinian nationalist project. There are many moving parts that can make this issue complex for some to understand.

Salwa Khan and Fatima Khawaja, who organized the protest, shared that family members of a fellow student were raided by the IDF that same morning in Israel.

“In what world do you think it’s okay for people who have killed children across borders to come and speak about peace and courage at Stockton,” said Khawaja. “I overheard that this event intended to take pride and highlight Israeli culture. ‘Israel’ takes pride in their military that is inflicting pain upon children.”

The cluster of students held up images of children who were killed during raids, along with signs that read “These are the children YOU killed.”

“If you think this isn’t relevant to you, YOUR tax dollars are allowing The United States to keep supporting the IDF” added Kawaja