City College Students Rally in Support of Palestinians

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) held a loud but peaceful rally on the campus of The City College of New York (CCNY) on Tuesday October 31. They called for CCNY President Vincent Boudreau and The City University of New York (CUNY) Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez to condemn Israeli bombings in Gaza, and demanded an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

Organizers had called for the rally on Instagram in reaction to Israel’s retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and statements supporting Israel by Boudreau and Matos Rodríguez.

Seventy-five to 100 attendees stood on either side of the path in front of The Howard E. Wille Administration Building where the president’s office is located. They placed a white blanket on the sidewalk between the demonstrators. It had the names of some who were killed in the attacks in Gaza along with a quote that read, “If I die, remember that I, we, were individuals, humans, we had names, dreams, and achievements, and our only fault was that we were just classified as inferior,” The quote had been posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Palestinian doctor and writer, Belal Aldabbour. There was also a blanket wrapped to symbolize a dead Palestinian baby.

Organizer Hadeeqa Malik Vice President of the SJP, held a megaphone and led chants and calls in response. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” demonstrators chanted back.

President Boudreau, Provost Dr. Tony M. Liss, and other college administrators stood at the edge of the protest along the curb and watched and listened. “We call out CUNY. We call out the chancellor who is a Zionist. We call out our president who can’t do nothing but take a stance on neutrality,” Malik yelled. At one point, President Boudreau was on his cellphone and appeared to walk away. Protestors noticed his departure and chanted, “Boo Boudreau, Boo Boo Boudreau.”

Nathaniel Borukhov, a CCNY student, walked down Convent Avenue during the protest, draped in an Israeli flag. CUNY Public Safety Officers quickly separated him from the demonstration. But protestors saw him and chanted, “shame on you!” The chant died out quickly and when Palestinian supporters, one wearing a Keffiyeh, approached Borukhov, another Palestinian supporter told them not to engage with him.

Nathaniel Borukhov City College Student with the Israeli flag. Photo by Katelyn Polanco

Borukhov told Harlem View that he came out with the flag because he said he wanted to represent Jewish and Israeli students on campus. “I respect the Palestinians trying to have an event for themselves but it’s hard for me to represent who I am. I wish there were a little more support for our students,” he said.

He explained the war and strikes in Gaza are upsetting and he doesn’t want to see people die. “I think that all life is important, not just Israeli life. I think that what is going on right now is horrible, but I also want to take a stance with my country. Listen, at the end of the day, all I want is peace. I think that violence is never the answer. Every death hurts. Whether it’s Palestinian kids, whether it’s Israeli kids. Like at the end of the day, death is death and it’s just sad.”

Borukhov looked confused when he saw the Orthodox Jewish protestors and said, “It’s kind of crazy to me that you are a religious Jew saying that Israel isn’t ours because, I mean, it’s our God given land, you know?”

While Borukhov stood to the side, the group of Orthodox Jews stood among the protestors. They are members of Neturei Karta (NK) which the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) website describes as having an “extreme agenda.” The ADL says the group, “… opposes the contemporary state of Israel because it does not believe that the Jewish people have the right to self-determination and because only God can restore Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel by bringing the Messiah.”

NK Rabbi Dovid Feldman took the megaphone and told the demonstrators, “This genocide didn’t start on October 7^th. Unfortunately, this is an outcome. We don’t condone violence, but this is sadly an outcome of over 75 years of brutal, unending occupation. If we truly want to address the issue, if we truly are concerned about the safety and security of all, we should realize and understand what is the root cause of this conflict. Nobody should believe that the difference of religion is the cause for conflict. We had differences of religion for the longest time, and we did not have conflict. We lived in peace in so many Muslim countries.”

In promoting the rally on Instagram, SJP called for the renaming of the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. Powell attended CCNY where he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), according to the Office of the Historian. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1958, went to the military, and worked his way up and became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1989 and the United States secretary of state 2001. Powell died in 2021. The students criticized him for his support for the 2003 Iraq war and for supporting Israel. In their demands they said, they also wanted protection for SJP, members on The City College campus, and other people who support the Palestinians.

The hour and a half rally ended peacefully. Before it was over, we asked Provost Liss what he thought and he said, “I’m just listening.”