For the past two and a half years since Oct. 7, Michal Magen and Yael Raz Lachyani have held on to one dream: to return to their home, Kibbutz Nahal Oz, in Israel and begin the process of rebuilding their lives. Now, they’re sharing that dream with others to honor the stories of those whose lives were cut short as a result of Oct. 7. This past Wednesday, students and community members came together in the Goldberg Formal Lounge to listen to the testimonies of Magen and Raz Lachyani, members of the Kibbutz Nahal Oz community who endured and survived […]

St. Louis’ Most Rev. Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski and Rabbi Noam Marans emphasized the power of Catholic-Jewish dialogue and relationships in a conversation moderated by Friar David J. Suwalsky for the 60th year of Nostra Aetate, Feb. 5. 

But one doesn’t need to subscribe to any of these views to oppose the bill. Simple American grade-school civics are sufficient.

Around 300 students packed Graham Chapel this past Tuesday to listen to stories of horror, heartbreak, and resilience from former Israeli hostage Eliya Cohen and his fiance and Nova Music Festival-survivor, Ziv Abud. Their accounts detailed the strength it took to endure unimaginable loss and trauma while also highlighting the importance of honoring the courage of others. 

As Israel ramped up its attacks on Gaza, killed more and more civilians, and committed several war crimes, many of us Jews adopted the strategies that Piper describes. We insisted that people who came out in support of Palestine were ignorantly hopping on the most recent and trendy left-wing train. We insisted that pro-Palestine rhetoric was the latest form of subtle (or not-so-subtle) antisemitism. We insisted that Hamas held 100% of the blame for the catastrophic death toll in Gaza. We insisted that those dying were indoctrinated from birth and already terrorists in the making. We even insisted that the death toll and the famine were calculated works of antisemitic fiction.

Student Life reached out to a few students personally impacted by the conflict for their thoughts and reactions to the deal.

In an address last week, former President Joe Biden announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which includes an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinians currently imprisoned in Israel, and an increase in humanitarian aid in Gaza. The deal went into effect on Sunday Jan. 19, and the first hostages have been exchanged.

Palestinian-Lebenese author Saree Makdisi was invited by the Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies (JIMES) department on Nov. 4 to give his presentation “Tolerance is Wasteland: Palestine and the Culture of Denial” on his work about Western denial of Palestinian oppression and genocide.

If we keep spreading the narrative that WashU is a place of suppression of expression, then yes, it will be a space of uncomfortable silence. We, the student body, have both passively and actively created that perceived reality for ourselves.

I deeply value the intellectual community I have found at WashU, and am regularly struck with admiration for the students, faculty, and staff who constitute it. That is why it pains me to see our community represented in a national news outlet by such a morally unserious statement. WashU deserves better.