Around 250 community members gathered on Annenberg Plaza for a pro-Israeli rally entitled “No Hate on Campus” in response to the pro-Palestinian encampment on College Green.
The rally was held “in support of a peaceful campus environment for Jewish faculty, staff, [and] students,” according to flyers circulating on Instagram. The program featured speeches from Jewish community members and Anti-Defamation League Regional Director Andrew Goretsky, and attendees sang American and Israeli national anthems.
Community members gathered on the plaza with Israeli flags and signs reading “No Hamas No KKK, fight racism and antisemitism,” “UPenn stands with Israel and the United States,” and “Protect Jewish students.”
“I am proudly and unapologetically a Jew,” Penn Medicine professor Benjamin Abella said to the crowd. He said that he believed that everyone in attendance loved America, Penn, and “accept[s] and encourage[s] robust discussion and debate.”
“We accept and welcome speech that is constructive and sometimes difficult,” Abella said. “We all want peace. We want shalom. We want it here, and we want it in the United States, and we want it in the Middle East, despite how elusive it is.”
Abella praised the University’s recent actions, including the recent communications from Interim Penn President Larry Jameson and Penn Provost John Jackson Jr. In a campus-wide email on Friday evening, Jameson called for the encampment to disband, alleging “blatant violations of University policies.”
Abella expressed disappointment that the encampment participants had not removed themselves from College Green as instructed.
“We hereby implore the University to take action,” he said. “Words are not enough.”
Goretsky, reading from prepared remarks, referred to statements from the encampment that he said "only harass Jewish students."
“People will not be silent in condemning these actions,” he said. “In the face of intimidation, we remain unbreakable, united by our current resilience, pride, and strength."
Goretsky offered support to Penn’s Jewish students on behalf of the ADL and told attendees to continue to “lead by example … even in the face of adversity.”
The rally also featured speakers from Penn’s Jewish student community, including Wharton and Engineering junior Noah Rubin.
“I want to remind the administration that we are not going anywhere as Jewish students on this campus,” Rubin said during the rally. He then held up a poster of one of the Israeli hostages, instructing participants to “look in their eyes” and remember why they are protesting.
Rubin told The Daily Pennsylvanian that he felt the emails and messages sent out by University administration had not actually led to protections for Jewish students.
“We’ve seen a complete lack of leadership and ability to follow through with President Magill and now with President Jameson. There’s a pattern of sending out emails and then not doing anything,” he said. “I need Jewish students to be safe on campus.”
College senior Eyal Yakoby was the last to speak at the rally, encouraging “solidarity” among attendees and denouncing the Penn administration’s lack of action in response to the encampment.
Yakoby told the DP that the University is “setting a bad precedent if they don’t remove the protesters,” as “in [their] words, they’re violating campus policy.”
Following the speeches and music, hundreds of rallygoers marched to College Green, where they faced off against the pro-Palestinian encampment.
Both the pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli contingencies engaged in chants from opposite sides of Locust Walk. Officers from the Division of Public Safety added additional barricades throughout the time the dueling protests were assembled outside Van Pelt-Dietrich Library to keep the two groups separate.
Throughout the time both protests were assembled, chants included “Free, free Palestine” from the pro-Palestinian encampment and “Rape is not resistance” from the pro-Israeli side.
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