Student safety top of mind following protests at University of Arizona

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - Student safety has been a huge topic of discussion following the protests on the University of Arizona campus earlier this week that ended with four arrests.

Now, both Jewish and Palestinian students are calling for more peaceful dialogue.

Many of the Jewish students 13 News talked with said some of the chants felt targeted and almost antisemitic.

It’s something Palestinian students said they have also been dealing with since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

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That has left what the students called an unnerving environment heading into finals week.

“It’s a very intense situation, to put it lightly,” said Students Supporting Israel member Ethan Habib-Weels. “They said the protesters were shouting all sorts of anti-American, antisemitic things.”

Habib-Weels said the scenes from the protests got out of hand.

“You start getting into physical assault,” he said. “You started getting into inciting violence. This is where the line needs to be drawn.”

The allegedly hate speech and escalated nature of the protest were scary for members of the Students Against Apartheid, which hosted the protest.

“Really the counter-protestors that we were facing on our side were mostly really just frat boys that were just really drunk and trying to heckle people,” said Ana, a member of the Students Against Aparthied orginization who wanted to keep her last name private.

That is something Jewish students said they have been facing throughout the overseas conflict.

“I think that it’s a little bit scary for Jews,” Habib-Weels said. “Because you have huge protests in Colombia, the Intifada (banner), which is essentially a code for ‘Death of Jews.’ It makes a lot of Jews feel intimidated, a little scared.”

Several Palestinian supporters were expected to be arrested Wednesday morning after refusing to leave the University of Arizona campus.

Some of the students speaking out for Palestine said the same thing.

“I think it’s prevalent especially now, they are kind of reacting because they are like I don’t know and I don’t care what’s going on and I’m angry about it,” said Ana. “So it’s kind of this weird cognitive dissonance.”

Despite many of the words of hate being felt by both sides, students told 13 News they have been able to have peaceful discussions.

“A lot of my Jewish friends actually helped organize this protest and this encampment as well,” said Ana. “I was feeling very welcomed and was surrounded by the awesome people.”

That’s something some of the students said they want to keep as the narrative moving forward.

“We’d love to have a peaceful dialogue,” said Students Supporting Israel President Jonah Rosen. “We have the right to protest, the right to assembly right, but there’s no right to endanger students and make them feel uncomfortable with the things that are happening here.”

Both sides said they would like to focus on the message rather than focusing on anger.

“Ultimately these protests are speaking the voices of the unheard,” said Ana. “Having a space to actually talk to each other about what is going on and share these resources.”

There is no word yet on if more protests are planned. But in a message sent to university officials, Students Against Apartheid promised further action if the school doesn’t meet their demands.

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