Oct. 7 is different things to different people.
Tuesday marked two years since Hamas killed 1,200 and kidnapped 251 Israelis — the start of Israel’s retaliation which has led to the killing of 66,000 Palestinians and seriously injured nearly 168,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. On Sept. 16, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
According to the United Nations Satellite Centre, 78 per cent of structures have been destroyed or damaged in Gaza as of July 1 — which has included demolishing all universities andtargeting hospitals.
Early yesterday morning, the Israeli government ratified a ceasefire deal with Hamas — the first phase includes Hamas releasing 20 hostages within 72 hours of the start of the ceasefire. Hamas is also expected to release the bodies of 26 deceased hostages, and Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinian prisoners in their jails and 1,700 detainees from Gaza.
At the Musqueam post, over a hundred community members gathered on the evening of Oct. 7 to grieve together. Palestinian flags blew in the wind, attendants brought flowers and laid out a tarp that stretched metres long, listing the names of the Palestinian children killed by Israel — the UN has reported at least 18,000 kids have been killed.
The vigil was organized by several UBC clubs and organizations, including Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, Grad Students for Palestine, Palestinian Solidarity Action and Independent Jewish Voices.
The event included speeches, prayers, recitations of poems and performances of honour and grief songs.
Before this, the group UBC Encampment set up a table near the knoll outside the Nest to provide information about the occupation, what solidarity can look like and what the university could be doing differently. They also created a memorial with dozens of Palestinian flags placed into the grass and chalk on the cement that read “Free Palestine.”
The first speaker at the vigil introduced themselves as Noor and said they were a third-generation Palestinian refugee. They spoke about growing up in Gaza and the weight of being separated from their parents as a teenager, and the horrors of watching members of their family continue to be killed by the Israeli Army.
“I still can't understand how people can watch a genocide unfold every day and still act like nothing is happening,” said Noor.
“The occupation has almost erased most of my family from existence, but they will never be erased. They will never erase our voice … I carry their names, not as victims, but as proof that Palestinians live with dignity, even in death.”
Noor recalled fond memories of his family, and his speech allowed them to be remembered for the joy and warmth they brought into the world. “I lived among some of the most pure and generous people.”
Several community members performed two songs: one was an honour song from the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee people called “The Oneness Walk,” and the following song, one community member explained, was meant to help centre grief.
The final speaker of the night opened by asking fellow Indigenous peoples to stand with them as they spoke. “This is what it looks like [to be] survivors of genocide for all of our Palestinian kin who are here … you will be in the future. [Palestine] will be free,” they said.
The UBC alum recalled their time on campus, explaining that during difficult times they found solace in the First Nations House of Learning. In the house, they explained, there was a “graduation door” that only graduates walked through and their desire to one day walk through that door is what kept them going.
“I was so proud … when I walked through those doors. And then we moved forward in time, and here I am on this campus … and my feelings about graduating from here are nothing the same. I am horrified and ashamed that this was my alma mater.”
Over the past two years, community members have demanded UBC divest from companies that are complicit in Palestinian human rights abuses and condemn Israel’s actions, through actions such as protests, open letters, building occupations and a two-month encampment.
On May 7 last year, UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon released a UBC broadcast about the protests and wrote that UBC’s “Endowment Fund does not directly own any stocks in the companies identified by the [boycott, divest and sanction] movement.” Instead, "capital is held in pooled funds and managed by external investment managers.”
The next week, Bacon released another statement addressing UBC’s stance on the demands of the protestors; reaffirming UBC does not directly own stocks in companies identified by the BDS movement and did not condemn Israel’s actions.
“As such, like the rest of the world, we hope for a ceasefire and a lasting peaceful resolution in the Middle East,” he wrote.
Bacon has not released another statement on the protests since then.
“There is an important teaching that so many of our people … believe, and that is that our tears, when we cry, it's cleaning our spirit. Our body is the only thing that holds us earthside,” said the final speaker.
“We are everywhere. For all of the martyrs, they are everywhere … For those of us here: we keep fighting, we clean our spirits and we stay connected. Long live the resistance.”
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