Editor’s Note: This story was updated with a statement from Kent State University.

Over 100 students and advocates took to the K outside the Student Center Monday to demonstrate against multiple Israel Defense Force members speaking on campus for a Students Supporting Israel event. 

A dozen student organizations came together to protest “Triggered: The Tour,” where IDF soldiers visit college campuses to discuss their combat experiences after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. The protest included a series of speakers, chanting and a flag-planting ceremony to honor dead children in Gaza. 

Emily Vincent, director of University Media Relations, provided a university statement on the event and its speakers.

“The speakers were brought to campus by a registered student organization,” Vincent said. “As with any speaker invited to our campus, Kent State University does not endorse or condone an opinion or point of view represented by the speakers, nor does the university advocate for any topic the speakers might discuss during their visit to campus.”

Vincent also said the university upholds the First Amendment rights of free speech and peaceful assembly, and permits groups and individuals to speak on campus about topics they consider important.

Sama Mousa, head of the event planning committee for Students for Justice in Palestine, was the first speaker of the protest. She said the IDF are coming to “make people forget” about the thousands of Palestinians “murdered.” 

“They are not soldiers, they are terrorists in uniform,” Mousa said. “When they come here, they’re not coming to tell the truth. They’re coming to justify the unjustifiable and minimize their crimes.” 

Mousa shared that among those killed were 80 members of her own family. 

“They were bombed in homes, in hospitals and in so-called safe zones Israel told them to flee to,” she said. “But there is no safe place when an occupying force is determined to erase you.” 

The next speaker, Benjamin Rose Kronenberg, a senior music education major, was vocal about their Jewish heritage. They told the crowd that Israel’s actions against Palestine damaged the legacy Jewish people left behind after the Holocaust. 

“When they come on campus espousing the values of ethnic cleansing, they spit on the history of our people in an attempt to rewrite history,” Rose Kronenberg said. “I have never in my entire life been so disappointed and harrowed at such an event taking place.” 

Rose Kronenberg condemned the university for allowing the IDF on campus by connecting their presence to the May 4 shooting. 

“Soldiers wanted people like you dead here for much the same reason that you stand here now,” they said. “How do we honor those who died, many of whom were also Jewish students opposed to colonialism? By inviting baby killers who sullied their name to do a press tour.” 

Another speaker, Nica Delgado, a senior anthropology major, compared the IDF soldiers coming to campus to the Kyle Rittenhouse event nearly a year ago. 

“Our university has learned nothing,” she said. “Our university would rather be complicit than protect students.” 

Speakers continued discussing topics like imperialism, the new Trump administration and ICE. 

Two protestors, Jen Cass and Najla Abukhaled, said they were kicked out of the IDF event in the Student Center by interrupting the speakers. 

“[An IDF soldier] wanted to talk about how proud he was, what he did in Gaza and everything that happened on Oct. 7,” Abukhaled said. “I stood up and told him ‘You are the terrorist … you slaughtered over 17,000 children.’”

Despite getting kicked out, Abukhaled was proud that she was able to peacefully protest the event, and she said many Palestinians are unable to speak up as she did. 

“We are constantly shunned, and if we’re not shunned we’re killed and massacred,” she said. “We come here in solidarity.”

As the protest came to an end, Katey Berry, president of Jewish Voices for Peace, said the protest was a success and was happy with the turnout. 

“It makes me happy to see so many different people, all of different backgrounds, of different religions, of different races,” Berry said. “It makes me so happy to see that we are all supporting this one cause and to know that we are able to make our voices heard even though they are trying to stifle it.” 

Berry said the demonstration showed the strength and power students have and that it provides hope for the future. 

“We will never be defeated, we will always come out on top and we will always come out together,” she said. “We will one day have a free Palestine.”

John Engoglia is a beat reporter. Contact him at [email protected].