By Ethan Cohen
Behind a group of chattering elementary school students touring Long Beach State’s campus, a young boy lingered by a poster attached to the back of a white chair.
The full-color page, hanging out on the end of a long table with the face of a red-headed baby, caught his eye.
The boy stepped closer, his small finger brushing against the paper. Bold white letters against a bright red background spelled a single word—“KIDNAPPED.”
Then, suddenly, he turned toward his group of friends, his voice cutting through the air like a siren.
“They kidnapped someone 1-years-old,” he said.
Kfir Bibas, the red-headed Israeli baby, was one of a series of posters in an exhibit on the main quad featuring the names and faces of hostages taken by the Palestinian militant group Hamas and held in the Gaza Strip since last October.
Over 400 days into the Israel-Hamas war, members of Long Beach Hillel, a Jewish college organization, aimed to renew awareness of the hostages’ plight and emphasize the urgency of their humanitarian situation.
CSULB’s Jewish organization, Beach Hillel, arranged Israeli flags into a Star of David, a symbol of Jewish identity, on the main quad on Wednesday, Nov. 20. Photo credit: Ethan Cohen
“For a lot of our students here at Beach Hillel, the hostages feel like a family,” Chaya Leah Sufrin, Beach Hillel director, said. “We’ve had no signs of life, the Red Cross has not been in touch with them and on this campus, unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of attention paid to this.”
Sufrin believes it is not only an obligation for the organization to raise awareness for the Israeli victims of the war but also to be a space for Jewish and non-Jewish students to come together and be supported.
Following the outbreak of the conflict on Oct. 7, 2023, that led to the deaths of over 1,200 Israelis, Sufrin described how the attack prompted many students to grapple with the connection between their Jewish identity and Israel.
Recognizing this, she emphasized the importance of creating an open and inclusive space where students could come together, fostering a sense of community and belonging.
“The hard part is, I think a lot of the Jewish students here feel very, very unwelcome,” Sufrin said. “Two days after Oct. 7, I’m walking on this campus and hearing screams of the word Intifada… it sometimes makes it uncomfortable to be Jewish here.”
Amid campus protests and pushback against the war, the California University System strengthened policies to regulate demonstrations.
Sufrin shared her experience navigating the Time, Place and Manner policy, explaining how Beach Hillel successfully organized the event within those guidelines.
“We’re following all the rules,” Sufrin said. “We don’t have megaphones, we don’t have music, we’re not disrupting anybody or blocking anything… and as far as I know, we didn’t have any issues.”
Claudia Rawson, a 21-year-old computer science major, was worried about hosting the event on the main quad. As a member of Hillel, she was anxious about bad actors coming to the event to cause trouble.
Earlier during the event, students walking by shouted “terrorists” toward the students setting up. In another instance, members of the organization said a student spit at the exhibit while walking through the quad.
However, she did mention she was happy to see people who came over curious with questions and wanting to learn more about the perspective of Jewish students.
“What we want out of this is more of a conversation,” Rawson said. “Not necessarily for us to all agree on the same thing because we’re all people with different standpoints on everything…but to understand each other.”
Rawson, who identified with pro-Palestinian views before Oct. 7, acknowledged the conversations facilitated by Beach Hillel with those holding opposing perspectives often raise “thought-provoking questions.”
She expressed a desire for more individuals to approach these discussions with similar intentions.
One of those people was 21-year-old political science student, Alex Bowman, who stopped by the exhibit to read propped-up posters with text on them.
Bowman, who has an interest in analyzing conflicts and wants to go into intelligence in the future, said it was essential to recognize the severity of the conflict but was critical of how Israel was conducting the war.
“I believe [Hamas’] actions are not justified and should be classified as a terrorist action,” Bowman said. “But Israel has gone out of its bounds… I’m not saying that the state shouldn’t exist. I think it is important that [the pro-Israel supporters] recognize that people who criticize Israel are not advocating for it to be destroyed.”
Bowman, who described himself as an outsider with no personal ties to the conflict, believes that individuals who attack or verbally berate those setting up displays they disagree with inadvertently provide fuel for pro-Israel advocates to label them as anti-Semites.
“It harms the reputation of Palestinian people who believe in the freedom and sovereignty of a Palestinian state,” Bowman said. “I believe that there should be meaningful dialogue.”
