Students speak out after Palestinian flags placed on the campus of UC Riverside
Shelby Nelson and Marc Sternfield
Students at the University of California, Riverside are reacting to the placement of several dozen Palestinian flags on campus Wednesday as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on.
The flags mysteriously appeared overnight on a main campus lawn area with no other messages.
Some students who belong to UCR’s student Jewish group, Hillel, told KTLA that the flags made them feel uneasy. They did not want to speak on camera.
One student who did, however, said he did not find them threatening.
“Seeing those flags out isn’t a big deal … if they want to [project] a message of pro-Palestine,” he told us. “But if it’s a message of pro-Hamas, it could be totally different.”
The Palestinian flags mysteriously appeared overnight on the main campus lawn area with no other messages. UC Riverside. Oct. 11, 2023. (KTLA)
The war has claimed 2,300 lives on both sides and counting, including civilians and children.
Many people locally are feeling the effects of what is occurring overseas. Families have lost loved ones and others are desperate for answers after learning that Hamas has taken hostages.
At UCR, some students are also feeling the impact.
One student of Palestinian descent condemned Hamas’s attack on Israeli civilians but also called for empathy.
“It’s very bad for both sides,” Adrian Adi told us. “What Western media fails to portray is that my people have been oppressed for a very long time. I don’t condone violence, but it’s semi-understandable what’s going on.”
Palestinians walk amid the rubble following Israeli airstrikes that razed swaths of a neighborhood in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel Saturday, killing over 900 people and taking captives. Israel launched heavy retaliatory airstrikes on the enclave, killing hundreds of Palestinians. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Mourners react during the funeral of Israeli soldier Benjamin Loeb, a dual Israeli-French citizen, in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. Loeb was killed on Saturday as the militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
People take part in a Palestine Solidarity Campaign demonstration near the Israeli Embassy, in Kensingston, London, as the death toll rises amid ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza following the attack by Hamas, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)
This image from video provided by South First Responders shows charred and damaged cars along a desert road after an attack by Hamas militants at the Tribe of Nova Trance music festival near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (South First Responders via AP)
FILE – Fire and smoke rise following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
Israeli soldiers take position near the Israeli Gaza border, southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations, killing hundreds and taking captives. Palestinian health officials reported scores of deaths from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. (AP Photo/Oren Ziv)
Palestinians isit by the rubble Abu Helal family in Rafah refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. The strike killed dozens of people.(AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
Palestinians remove a dead body from the rubble of a building after an Israeli airstrike Jebaliya refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Ramez Mahmoud )
ADDS NAME OF THE MOSQUE -The rubble of the Sousi Mosque, destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, is seen at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City early Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Israel’s military battled to drive Hamas fighters out of southern towns and seal its borders Monday as it pounded the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
Destruction made by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip is seen in Ashkelon, Israel, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Israel’s military battled to drive Hamas fighters out of southern towns and seal its borders Monday as it pounded the Gaza Strip from the air. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli soldiers head south near Ashkelon, Israel, on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip infiltrated Saturday into southern Israel and fired thousands of rockets into the country while Israel began striking targets in Gaza in response. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Palestinians celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis southern Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land, and sea and catching the country off-guard on a major holiday. (AP Photo/Hassan Eslaiah)
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Administrators at UC Riverside declined to directly comment on the flags, instead, deferring to a statement the university issued on Tuesday.
“At times like this, we must remain steadfast in aligning our behavior with the Principles of Community, sent just last week, which state our shared commitment to a respectful, cooperative, professional, and courteous environment. Anyone who experiences discrimination or harassment should contact the Office of Equal Opportunity & Affirmative Action,” the statement read.
