From the Liveblog of
Thursday, June 13, 2024
University students on partial strike in solidarity with hostages
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
Students at universities across Israel are staging a partial strike today in solidarity with Israeli abductees held by Hamas in Gaza.
Organized by the National Union of Israeli Students, students are to walk out of classes and hold rallies for either 250 minutes, to mark the 250th day of the Israel-Hamas war, or for 120 minutes, in honor of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
At some universities, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the student organization called for a full day’s strike, Ynet reports.
Some family members of hostages are to participate in the day’s events, and the walkout is held with the support of the Hostage and Missing Families’ Forum, who in a statement expressed support for the student walkout and called for continuing negotiations with Hamas in order to “bring everyone home.”
A large number of university students were present at the Supernova dance party, which on October 7 was one of the targets of the Hamas terrorists. One of those abducted from there was the recently rescued Noa Argamani, who was a student at Ben-Gurion University.
“The 120 abductees held captive by Hamas in Gaza are going through 250 days of unimaginable agony. We were thrilled to see the return of Noa Argamani, a Ben-Gurion University student, along with three other abductees, but we shouldn’t accept the unbearable situation in which 120 other are still in captivity, including our students whom we all hope will return soon,” National Union of Israeli Students chair Elchanan Felhimer says in a statement.
