Several groups across the Claremont Colleges hosted events and held vigils this week to commemorate the two-year anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas and other militant groups launched a coordinated attack on southern Israel, in which they killed approximately 1,200 people and abducted 251 as hostages.
Israel has launched a military campaign in response that has killed over 67,000 Palestinians and resulted in widespread famine, leading numerous humanitarian groups and a UN commission to label it a genocide.
Among the Claremont organizations that recognized Oct. 7 were Claremont Hillel, 5C Chabad, the Muslim Students Association (MSA), Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP).
Many more co-hosted events, while several joined SJP in organizing an all-day general strike; in an Oct. 5 Instagram post, SJP called on community members not to attend work or classes, “sending the message that on a day marking two years of intensified genocide there will be NO BUSINESS AS USUAL!”
Approaches to events commemorating Oct. 7 varied widely among the different groups.
“While many days could be used to honor Palestinian suffering, the ‘martyrs’ commemorated on Oct 7th are Hamas militants involved in brutal attacks on Israel,” Claremont Hillel Executive Director Bethany Slater wrote in an email to the Hillel community on Oct. 3. “A vigil for them sends a hurtful message to Jewish students — that their pain and humanity are disregarded. Claremont Hillel refuses to add to this cycle of hurt. We are here as agents of peace.”
In the same email, Slater highlighted the act of antisemitic violence that occurred on Yom Kippur at the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester.
“We stand with this commitment to solidarity, rejecting hatred, and ensuring every Jew feels safe and valued,” she wrote. She noted Israeli artist Gilad Segev’s visit to the consortium on Oct. 5, and announced more events in the coming week.
“Oct 15–16, the Hebrew anniversary of Oct 7, we will remember the victims and hostages of the recent attacks, hearing from a survivor of the NovaFestival and praying for those still captive,” Slater wrote.
At the start of the week, on Oct. 6, FJP held their vigil at the south entrance of the Honnold-Mudd Library. Faculty speakers read testimonies from artists and activists to the crowd, highlighting the plight of the Palestinian people amid Israeli occupation.
SJP held a longer, all-day vigil on Oct. 7 at the Pitzer College clocktower “to mark 730 days since the intensification of the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” according to their Instagram announcement a week prior.
SJP’s vigil took place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, during which attendees could take space to grieve, place a flower or write a note, and the organizers welcomed community members at 12:15 p.m. to share poems, prayers, etc.
Over 50 students sat below the clock tower to listen to the speakers, who took turns sharing words until around 12:45 p.m. When everyone had spoken, the organizers resumed playing a recording that read the names of Palestinians who had been killed by Israel in the past two years.
“I’m proud to be a part of a clear-sighted community who recognize[s] Palestinian genocide and mourn[s] collectively for the tens of thousands of murdered souls that fortify the walls of Israeli oppression, apartheid, and ethic cleansing,” Graham Hynes PZ ’27, who attended and spoke at the vigil, said.
Hynes shared the final words of late Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in August.
“It is vital to remember and commemorate the names of the martyrs as people in Palestine continue to die under complete siege, incessant bombing, and even through the signing of the ceasefire,” they said.
At around 3 p.m., a small group seated themselves on the grass across from SJP’s vigil, carrying signs calling for the release of Israeli hostages.
“We just wanted to show support for the hostages that were taken on this day,” Noah F. PZ ’26, who declined to provide his full last name, said. He added that they hoped for a quick end to the war.
The Pitzer College Free Wall also represented the tensions associated with Oct. 7 on campus. That day, the Free Wall displayed a Palestinian flag across it. Painted in yellow over the flag were symbols including the awareness ribbon and the Star of David, with the phrase “TERRORISTS ≠ MARTYRS” written underneath.
Later that evening, MSA held their vigil at 5:30 p.m. on Bowling Green Lawn at Scripps College. Over 130 community members were in attendance as two professors and four students shared stories, poems and prayers.
“We stand here because we recognize the difference between good and evil, between oppressor and oppressed,” the vigil’s facilitator said. “We stand together with one another, with the global masses rising for Palestine and with the valiant, resilient people of Gaza.”
“ We stand together with one another, with the global masses rising for Palestine and with the valiant, resilient people of Gaza. ”
In addition to commemorating the lives lost, the vigil’s speakers repeatedly emphasized what they said was the Claremont Colleges’ complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“We have become numb to the crushed skulls, dismembered limbs, and toddlers burnt alive in their sleep,” the facilitator said. “Do not forget Gaza, even for just a second. Never legitimize Zionism.”
Professor of anthropology at Scripps College and MENA Studies Department Chair Lara Deeb was one of the first speakers.
“First, I appreciate the space and the thought and care you all put into creating a space for collective grief,” she said. “I have no idea how to grieve a genocide. I don’t think anyone does. How do we grieve hundreds of thousands of people? How do we grieve deaths caused by unfathomable cruelty? How do we grieve mass graves?”
Noa Polish SC ‘26 and Willa Umansky PZ ’27 shared a prayer on behalf of 5C Nishmat, a Jewish spiritual collective. Polish and Umansky recited the Mourner’s Kaddish.
“It’s an ancient prayer originally written in Aramaic, and it’s a prayer that we say in memory of the dead to comfort the bereaved, but it itself actually makes no mention of death,” Umansky said. The two invited vigil attendees to join them in the final amen of the prayer.
At the end of the vigil, leaders invited attendees to go over to the People’s Fund market by the Motley Coffeehouse, which sold items like keffiyehs and posters. The People’s Fund Claremont is a “collective of students and community members who aim to monetarily support people building power (through mutual aid) in Sudan, Gaza, and Eastern Congo,” according to their donations page.
As Claremont continues to reckon with the enduring effects of Oct. 7 on campus and abroad, the Israeli Cabinet has approved President Donald Trump’s plan for a ceasefire, which includes the release of hostages and the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops. A brief Oct. 9 statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that they approved an “outline” of a deal to release the hostages.
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