Pro-Palestinian Protesters Ask for Home-Cooked Meals

Pro-Palestinian protesters at Northwestern University in Illinois are asking supporters to provide them with home-cooked meals as demonstrations continue at the school.

College campuses across the country including Columbia University and Yale University have seen waves of pro-Palestinian demonstrations since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that left about 1,200 dead. These protests by students and some faculty have drawn national attention in recent days amid crackdowns by school administrators and law enforcement at several prominent universities.

Critics say the demonstrators are “antisemitic” or promoting “antisemitism,” saying that the pro-Palestinian movements on campus make Jewish students feel unsafe. While chants and actions that many view as antisemitic have occurred at some of these protests, many demonstrators say they are merely calling for a ceasefire and the end to the killing of Palestinians. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its war in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 attack.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page created last week asks for support for the Northwestern Divestment Coalition amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests at the school.

“Northwestern Divestment Coalition stands in solidarity with Palestine and demands an end to the genocide. We demand that Northwestern University discloses investments and divests from war, ends partnerships that legitimize occupation and genocide, and protects student civil liberties and safety,” the GoFundMe page says.

Israel has rejected the allegation that its actions are genocidal. Newsweek reached out to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., via email for comment.

The GoFundMe page also includes a link for supporters that want to provide food, and specifically home-cooked meals to protesters. The link is an Excel worksheet for supporters to fill out time slots and has a list of rules that encourages home-cooked meals that says “please prioritize vegan, halal, and kosher options.”

Newsweek has reached out to the organizers of the GoFundMe page through the website for comment and to Northwestern University via email for comment.

On Sunday, the Daily Northwestern, a student-run newspaper at Northwestern University, reported a pro-Israel counterprotest occurred at Deering Meadow on the school’s campus.

Graduate student Summer Pappachen, who was described as a pro-Palestinian protest marshall, told the newspaper that the counterprotesters were “taunting” them.

“They’re taunting us, they’re trying to doxx us…You want to talk about outside agitators? It is the Zionists who have come here. Look at the ages of these people,” Pappachen said.

Meanwhile, a Jewish student at Northwestern who attended the counterprotest told the newspaper that he went because of the “distortion” of the pro-Palestine movement.

“If it were ‘free Palestine,’ I might be ok with it. But it seems to be the erasure of Jews in the land of Israel,” he reportedly said.

In a Wednesday post on X, formerly Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised alarm about the campus demonstrations and compared the situation to what happened in Germany when the Nazis were coming to power.

“Anti-Semitism on campuses in the United States is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s,” he wrote. “The world cannot stand idly by.”

Last week, images shared to social media appeared to show professors at Northwestern University notifying students that they can makeup class if they miss it to attend a protest. On X, formerly Twitter, Guy Benson of Fox News shared an email to students from a professor about missing class which said, “This includes if you need to miss class for an extended period of time to exercise your right to protest. Please stay safe.”

A spokesperson for Northwestern University told Newsweek on Friday that it is “aware of a small number of instances in which this has happened. We have conveyed with departments and programs that this is not appropriate.”