Felipe Avila, a nursing student at the Catholic University of America, started the Students Supporting Israel club even though he’s not Jewish or Israeli. He wanted a club where students could show their support for Israel.
The new club is already facing retaliation and planting the seeds for the university to cancel it. From The College Fix:
The Fix also contacted The Olive Branch [pro-Palestinian group] to ask for its thoughts on the new Students Supporting Israel club and open debate about the Israel-Palestinian conflict on campus. However, the club appeared to block The Fix’s reporter on Instagram after reaching out via direct message.That same day, Avila told The Fix he was reported to the dean’s office for causing a student to feel “unsafe” about the formation of the pro-Israel club. He said he believes the complaint came from within The Olive Branch.Avila also told The Fix that within 24 hours of announcing the new pro-Israel club on LinkedIn, he was unfollowed and blocked on social media by The Olive Branch and its members. What happened was “kind of shocking, but not really,” he said.“It’s almost like they don’t want to have a conversation at all,” he said.Avila raised concerns about some of The Olive Branch’s recent posts, including one promoting a December event called “Queeraoke: A Night of Drag & Karaoke for Palestine.” The post no longer appears on the club’s Instagram stories, but Avila shared a screenshot of it with The Fix.The drag show was hosted by other groups not affiliated with the university. However, Avila told The Fix he believes even promoting the event violates the university’s Catholic policies.In addition, The Olive Branch posted a statement to its social media “honoring their martyrs,” with another post including Hamas as part of that group. The depiction of symbols on these posts such as keffiyehs and watermelons are “scandalous” at the private Catholic university, Avila told The Fix.
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