By Sam Gauntt, Oliver Mack, Pera Onal and Amelia Twyman
Hundreds of University of Maryland community members gathered on McKeldin Mall throughout the day on Tuesday to celebrate Israeli culture at Israel Fest.
The five-hour event was hosted by the Jewish Student Union and sponsored by 12 other organizations, including Maryland Hillel and the American Jewish Committee, according to an event flyer. Throughout the day, about 50 university community members assembled at Hornbake Plaza as a part of Boycott Israel Fest to protest the event.
Aden Lerner, the Jewish Student Union’s Israel Fest co-chair, said Israel Fest aims to educate people on Israeli culture and what the country means to some students on campus.
“It can be a really empowering and educational experience just to learn what this place across the world means to people,” the sophomore English and philosophy major said.
At Israel Fest, students participated in a variety of activities, such as riding a mechanical bull and surfing simulator. Several booths offered free Israeli food and drink, including falafel and coffee from a popular chain in Israel.
During the celebration, community members also wrote messages on a large yellow ribbon to honor the hostages captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Junior aerospace engineering major Aviel Zuri-Shaday said the event reminded him of his family.
“It’s very nice to have that little bit of nostalgia,” Zuri-Shaday, whose parents are from Israel, said. “During the week, it motivates me to keep going.”
Israel Fest was enclosed by a metal fence and monitored by police officers and unarmed security employees. University event staff checked bags and used metal detectors to search students before they entered the event area.
In a statement to The Diamondback, this university wrote that the security plans for Tuesday’s events closely followed the plans from last year. UMPD and campus officials coordinated with student events organizers to develop equitable security plans, the statement read.
Israel Fest has drawn protests in previous years. The boycott protesting the event last year was held on McKeldin Mall, closest to the library. But the entire mall was reserved for Israel Fest this year, so the boycott event was instead held in Hornbake Plaza.
[UMD increases security at annual Israel Fest and boycott]
At the boycott event, students gave speeches, led chants and chalked messages on Hornbake Plaza.
Event security and university police officers monitored the protest, which was contained to a fenced-off section of the plaza. Event staff also conducted bag searches and attendees went through metal detectors to enter.
Students for Justice in Palestine member Shubh Agnihotri said he attended the boycott because he believes it’s “unacceptable” for the university to allow Israel Fest.
“[Israel] has been persecuting and still killing mass amounts of Palestinian people, so we’re here to say that Israel Fest is completely unacceptable,” the freshman electrical engineering major said.
In a statement to The Diamondback, this university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter wrote that it hosted the Israel Fest boycott event to condemn “genocide, ethnic cleansing, historical erasure and settler colonialism, all of which this festival represents and endorses.”
On Monday, Israel announced plans to escalate its offensive to seize the Gaza Strip, the Associated Press reported. Israel’s military forces also announced they are calling up tens of thousands of its reserve soldiers, the outlet reported.
The announcement comes more than a year after Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 people hostage during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, according to the Associated Press. Since then, Israel’s military forces have killed more than 52,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Junior chemical engineering major Mason Loeffler said he attended the boycott to show solidarity for Palestinian and Arab students.
“We’re gonna keep fighting for divestment and for justice for all people who are victims of these senseless murders that our university is kind of complicit in,” said Loeffler, a member of the Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines at this university.
Many protestors, including members of this university’s Jewish Voice for Peace chapter, called for this university to divest from defense contractors.
Senior biology major Hershel Barnstein, a member of this university’s Jewish Voice for Peace chapter, said the divestment referendum results prove the student body supports human rights and divestment.
“We have many wonderful SGA [legislative] reps who will be fighting for us and will be fighting for admin and USM to actually go through with divestment,” Barnstein said during a speech at the boycott.
[UMD students vote in support of divestment referendum]
In April, students voted in this university’s Student Government Association election to call for the University System of Maryland Foundation and the University of Maryland College Park Foundation to divest from companies that are implicated in “violations of international law and human rights.”
This university told The Diamondback on April 18 that the divestment referendum has no bearing on university policy. In response to a request for comment, the University System of Maryland and UMCPF deferred to this university. The university system foundation did not respond to The Diamondback’s request for comment.
Lerner, the Israel Fest co-chair, said he didn’t think the boycott would impact the event. He added that it’s important for this university to prioritize students’ free speech.
“It’s good that we’re in a safe spot where everyone can voice their opinions, whether it’s us doing our thing or them doing their thing,” said Lerner.
Israel Fest isn’t a “political rally,” this university’s Jewish Student Union wrote in a statement to The Diamondback.
“It’s a celebration of culture, connection and resilience,” the organization wrote. “Today is about coming together in pride, joy and community.”
