Student began team after school pro-Palestinian party promoted’ Night of Drag &, Karaoke for Palestine ‘ ,
One Catholic University of America scholar decided it was time for a pro-Israel team on school after being ordered to take action following the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.
Felipe Avila, a medical student, officially launched the Students Supporting Israel team at the private Catholic college this season. He claimed, however, that another fairly new pupil team, The Olive Branch, which supports the pro-Palestinian cause, was causing him to stir.
Avila lately spoke with The College Fix via phone to explore both the effect it has received on the Washington, D.C. school and his motivations for founding the club. There are over 140 chapters on campuses across the world, including the Kids Supporting Israel section.
Avila claimed that one of the issues that sparked him to act was the 2023 terrorist assault on Israel. In the assault, Hamas extremists killed over 1, 000 Israelis in a single morning and took another 250 prisoner.
Avila said he felt the need to speak out to help those who are marginalized based on their identity despite not being Hebrew or Jewish.
A pro-Palestinian team called The Olive Branch was another cause. Avila said the league, which formed last month, created an “echo room” on campus, violently voicing just one side of the story.
The pro-Palestinian team formed last spring, according to its Instagram website. Its objective is to “foster social and humanitarian knowledge in the Middle East” and “facilitate cultural justice activities, cultural immersion, and society development”.
Avila claimed to The Fix that putting up the club has been” an interesting day” and that he had decided to take it upon himself to reflect the different side of the issue.
” Even though there’s a very small Jewish existence here on campus, we believe that they matter, we believe that their tones problem and that they have a right to exist”, Avila said. He went on to say that “any team that says then, we’re ready to push back on that”.
The Fix also reached out to The Olive Branch to inquire about the new Kids Supporting Israel team and the open discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian turmoil on campus. The team, however, did appear to stop The Fix‘s columnist on Instagram after reaching out via direct information.
Avila claimed to the professor’s office that evening that he had been reported to The Fix for making a student feel “unsafe” about the formation of the pro-Israel team. He claimed that he thinks the issue was brought on by The Olive Branch.
Avila also reported to The Fix that The Olive Branch and its people blocked him on social media within 24 hours of announcing the new pro-Israel team on Linked In. What happened was “kind of shocking, but never really”, he said.
” It’s almost like they don’t want to have a chat at all”, he said.
Avila raised fears about some of The Olive Branch’s new articles, including one promoting a December event called” Queeraoke: A Night of Drag &, Karaoke for Palestine”. Avila shared a picture of the blog with The Fix, but it no longer appears on the team’s Instagram stories.
Different organizations that weren’t connected to the school hosted the move show. But, Avila told The Fix he believes actually promoting the occasion violates the school’s Catholic procedures.
Additionally, The Olive Branch posted a speech honoring its victims on its social media platform, with Hamas as a participant in one of those posts. At the personal Catholic college, Avila told The Fix, the portrayal of images on these articles, such as watermelons and keffiyehs, is “scandalous.”
According to The Fix’s investigation regarding the social media posts, University spokesman Karna Lozoya stated that “our student organizations are required to adhere to the University’s cultural media plan… We notify the team via email that they need to quickly change the post.”
Lozoya responded to a question about the two leagues and the school Israel-Palestinian argument, saying that” the need to respect the dignity of all human beings has been clear.”
There is no place on a Catholic school for words and deeds that do not defend the respect and dignity that each and every one of these community members deserve,” Kilpatrick said at the period.
Additionally, Lozoya added that” The Olive Branch is a student-led organization built to promote social and philanthropic awareness in the Middle East.” One of the group’s first initiatives was to arrange a Middle Eastern peace service.
Lozoya claimed that our Campus Ministry provided the direction and support for the meditation services.
However, Avila said he believes Israelis are being “dehumanized”, adding,” When you start to falsely accuse an entire group of human beings of committing murder when they’re no, you’re virtually dehumanizing them”.
He pointed to posts by the pro-Palestinian club accusing Israel of” continu]ing ] the genocide against Palestinians”.
Avila stated that the goal of Catholic University’s fresh pro-Israel book is to dispel the myths that frequently surface about the Israel-Palestine issue. He claimed he wants to teach the electorate what Zionism actually entails and why it is crucial for Israel to occur on a global level.
Leore Tal, a writer for College Fix, is a member of the University of Missouri’s Students Supporting Israel book.
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IMAGES: The Olive Branch CUA/Instagram, Felipe Avila, SteveSanchezPhotos/Shutterstock
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