Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) gave an overview of the situation in Gaza and drew awareness to what’s happening to Palestinians in the region at the “Let’s Talk about Gaza” event Thursday night. 

Speakers from SJP gave presentations on various topics relating to the war in Gaza. Among them were presentations on the humanitarian crisis and efforts to block it and the genocidal rhetoric used by Israeli government officials pointed at Palestinians. 

Stress was put on what students could do in the local area. They talked about the recent Starbucks boycott, which has caused the company to lose approximately $11 billion in market value. 

Yaseen Shaikh, senior computer science major and president of SJP, said it is important for students to stay aware of Gaza, since it affects everyone.

“Oftentimes we live in our own bubble of friends, and so it’s easy to just go from school to home and just have our hobbies and live a life for ourselves,” he said. “But we need to think beyond that, we need to live beyond that, we have values that we need to extend to our actions when we talk about justice.” 

The event’s guest speaker, Sabrin Alsheikh Ahmed, is a Palestinian from Gaza studying in the U.S. She spoke about her experience watching her friends and family be broken up and killed in the war. 

Ahmed came to the U.S. in July and has had to keep track of her family and friends through continuous blackouts in the region. 

She shared several personal stories of her own friends who had been killed as well as her own search for whether her sister and one-year-old nephew were alive after losing contact with them. 

She promoted Heal Palestine, a group who provides aid for Palestinians.

Shaikh said SJP is planning more events on campus to raise awareness about the situation in Gaza for Palestinians. 

“Our next event is a film screening and discussion, and the event following is actually themed for Black History Month and it focuses on Black-led liberation movements and how they correlate with the Palestinian cause,” Shaikh said. 

Shaikh said the group has been just as active before the Oct. 7 attacks, but they are focusing on promoting change with their future events. 

“After Oct. 7, we were all in the crisis. So now it’s just like, we need to see some change,” Shaikh said. “We’re moving with a sense of intensity that we were not really thinking about before October. We want to make sure that we’re educated and fully aware going forward.”

Shaikh said we are obligated to give support to those suffering in Gaza. 

“Our tax money is going to removing those things from their life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, our tax money takes that away from them. We have an obligation to work and to help them as people living in the United States,” he said. 

Andrew Bowie is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].