'Bring them home.' Indiana University students, faculty rally against 'Hamas propaganda'

Editor's note: This post was updated to correct the directional relationship between the two protest sites.

About 100 Indiana University students, faculty, staff and community members rallied on campus Thursday against "Hamas propaganda" — about 500 yards east of Dunn Meadow, where pro-Palestinian protesters have rallied for more than a week.

Anti-Hamas protesters on Thursday said the rhetoric that initially began as criticism against the state of Israel has increasingly become radicalized and antisemitic. Some Jewish students said they have felt less safe on campus since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7. Participants in the pro-Palestinian protests have pushed back against allegations of antisemitism, saying their critics are merely trying to delegitimize their protests.

Mikayla Kaplan, a first-year IU student who spent a gap year in Israel after graduating from high school, said Thursday the Oct. 7 attack has deeply affected her.

Kaplan said she has friends in Israel, including some in the Israeli Defense Force, and she thinks about them every day.

Hamas launched deadly surprise attacks on Oct. 7 that coincided with a major Jewish holiday, with militants infiltrating towns and army bases, killing Israelis and taking hostages, many of whom are still being held. Some have referred to the attacks as Israel's 9/11.

Kaplan said she found out about the attack on the day of her calculus midterm at IU. She said that 20 minutes before the exam, she and a friend sat down together “and we cried and we prayed and we hoped for the safety and security of our loved ones.”

“That is a perpetual experience that a lot of students have been having,” she said.

Kaplan thanked those who came to Thursday's rally and said they were showing Jewish and pro-Israel students they are not alone at a time when many of them have felt very isolated.

Günther Jikeli, the Erna B. Rosenfeld Associate Professor for the Study of Antisemitism at IU, said he and a group of faculty who came together after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 felt they needed to organize a rally simply to denounce Hamas and the terror group’s propaganda.

“We just want to make clear: This is not acceptable for us, Hamas propaganda,” Jikeli said near the Showalter Fountain.

He handed out a piece of paper that included statements that were made or shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, by two leaders of the Palestine Solidarity Committee at IU. Aidan Khamis, president of the PSC, retweeted an expletive-filled statement from April 4 that included the phrase, “Glory to Hamas.”

Jikeli said, “This is dangerous stuff. It means it’s OK to kill Jews.”

Khamis said via email last week that he retweeted the message by mistake and he meant to share a different tweet.

“I deleted the retweet as soon as it was brought to my attention,” Khamis said. “I regret any harm this accidental retweet has caused anyone at IU and in our Bloomington community. It does not reflect my values or my beliefs.”

Jikeli said he would welcome if Khamis publicly denounced Hamas and the Oct. 7 attacks, but until he does so, Jikeli said he has doubts about his sincerity.

Jikeli also shared a Tweet from Bryce Greene, an IU grad student and PSC founder, who wrote on Jan. 18, “For those who need to hear it, Hamas is morally superior to Israel in every way that matters.”

Greene said via email Friday, “You do not have to be ‘pro Hamas’ to understand that the people who are loudly and proudly committing genocide are morally inferior to the people — however imperfect — who are not committing genocide.”

Jikeli said he looked at Greene's social media again Friday morning and found multiple instances that indicate he prefers Hamas to Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed organization with ties to terrorists, to the United States.

"From what I can see, both student leaders are radicalized in the sense that they are not ready to condemn designated terror groups that have a record of targeting civilians," Jikeli said via email Friday.

Jewish student: ‘No peace as long as there is Hamas’

Some attendees at Thursday’s rally against Hamas propaganda held or wrapped themselves in Israeli flags. Others held signs, such as “Rape is not resistance.” Many chanted with Rabbi Levi Cunin the phrase “Am Yisrael Chai,” which translates to “The Jewish people live.” Attendees also repeatedly chanted, “Bring them home,” referring to the hostages still held by Hamas.

Maya Hogan, who just finished her junior year and is majoring in psychology with a minor in Jewish studies, said like many of the students who are protesting on Dunn Meadow, she wants people to be free and safe.

She said instead of coming together against a common enemy, students have been distracted by fighting amongst themselves.

“This isn’t about Israel versus Palestine,” Hogan said. “This is about the people who deserve rights against people who are keeping their rights from them.”

"There is no peace as long as there is Hamas,” she said.

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'Vile' slogans, ignorance and misinformation

IU student Jaime Katz said many things she has seen on signs and on social media are “vile.”

A lot of people are simply spreading historically inaccurate information and appear to have been educated at Tik Tok university, she said.

“I’m seeing a lot of misinformation and disinformation being spread on college campuses across the country,” Katz said.

Katz came to IU from South Africa to study criminal justice, but said the recent developments have left her worried and disappointed.

“It makes me sad for the future of American academia,” she said.

Jikeli said he, too, believes that a lot of people are holding signs with slogans whose meaning they do not understand. He said he recently asked one of the pro-Palestinian students about an abbreviation on her sign, and the student could not explain what it meant.

Jikeli said people also are calling for Intifada and using phrases such as “from the river to the sea,” which, for some Israelis and Jews, means the destruction of Israel and the death of all Jews.

Even the phrase “Free Palestine,” which is frequently chanted at Dunn Meadow, is problematic, Jikeli and Hogan said.

“If you say free Palestine, you mean free Palestine from someone else,” she said.

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana University students, faculty anti Hamas propaganda rally