COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State students are getting involved and voicing their stance on the war in Israel. Students for Justice in Palestine, a student organization at The Ohio State University, held a rally at the Ohio Statehouse Sunday afternoon to show their support for Gaza and Palestinians.
About 100 students and community members gathered for the rally and marched through downtown Columbus.
Heba Latif, co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine, said the purpose of the rally is to march against the occupation of Gaza by Israeli forces and to stand with Palestinians.
"This is a response to the 75 years of a brutal occupation and an apartheid system that was put under them," Latif said.
Latif called the Hamas attacks on Israel a resistant movement against the occupation.
"The Israeli forces have violated international human rights laws over the course of 75 years with the Gaza Strip being a victim,” Latif said.
This rally comes as the Israeli government formally declared war Sunday, following the surprise attack by Hamas early Saturday morning. More than 1,000 people have died and thousands more have been injured between Israel and Gaza so far.
Larry Levine, a Jewish community member, showed up at the rally to voice his support for the Israeli forces.
"Somebody said there's a pro-Palestinian rally downtown and my first thought was, for what?" Levine said.
Levine believes it's wrong for anyone to support a cause that is leading to innocent people being killed.
"They should be rallying against Hamas who has done more against their people in Gaza than anything that they accuse the Jews of,” Levine said.
Despite the more than 6,000 miles of separation from the conflict, there remains a stark difference of opinion in Columbus.
"It's not a conflict, it's inhumane, it's violating basic human rights and it's a violation of international law as well,” Latif said.
"What they did the last two days was inhumane, uncivilized, and disgusting,” Levine said.