Rishi Arun was suspended from Temple for his involvement in a pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Pennsylvania in June. On Monday, he and dozens of others protested a rally in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign at The Liacouras Center.
Arun, the former president of Temple’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, encouraged attendees to abstain from voting in the upcoming presidential election to voice discontent with their policies on the Israel-Hamas war.
“You don’t have to vote,” Arun said. “You don’t have to participate in this f—ed up system. There are things you can do, that don’t involve voting for genocide. You can still organize, you can still build mass movements that aren’t directly involved in funding genocide.”
Temple SJP protesters went face-to-face with those waiting in line to enter The Liacouras Center for Monday’s concert and rally for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, which featured appearances from former President Barack Obama and singer Bruce Springsteen.
Pro-Palestinian students clothed in keffiyeh, head scarves representing Palestinian resistance, gripped hand-painted cardboard signs and chanted through megaphones to the mass swarms of attendees lined up on Montgomery Avenue. SJP urged them to rethink their vote for Harris due to her policies on the Israel-Hamas war.
Temple’s chapter of SJP was placed on interim suspension on Oct. 1 for violating the student code of conduct during a protest at the College of Engineering’s career fair a week prior. They promoted today’s protest through the organization’s Instagram page.
Samuel Gordon, a 1986 Temple alumnus, countered the statements made by the pro-Palestine protesters while waiting in line for admission to the rally.
Gordon is confident Harris will support his desire for a two-state solution and went to the campaign event to demonstrate his commitment to her campaign. He defended Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and believes their reaction is justified.
“The Palestinian people are victims of Hamas,” Gordon said. “Hamas is in their offices, their headquarters, their positions are within schools, within hospitals. [Hamas] wants Israel to bomb schools, bomb hospitals, so they can get on the news. But Israel, they’re not doing it because they want to bomb hospitals. They’re doing it because they have to attack Hamas.”
Gordon’s rebuttal was vastly outnumbered by the two dozen protesters standing before him. The protesters’ anger was primarily aimed at the United States government’s two-party system, which they feel greatly reduces their choices when it comes to electing a president.
At the rally, a Temple student who wished to remain anonymous in fear of their safety and retaliation from the university, denounced Obama for the United States’ bombings in the Middle East during his presidential tenure, tears flowing down their cheeks.
The student attended the rally to protest the Harris-Walz campaign’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
Harris voiced her allyship with Israel during her Sept. 10 debate against Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump. In the debate, Harris claimed she will always defend Israel’s right to defend itself but said how it goes about doing so matters.
“[Kamala] chooses to stand by here and continue to say that Israel has the right to defend themselves,” the anonymous student said.”[And] defend themselves against the law, exactly because we have seen the amount of carnage that’s going on in that zone.”
An anonymous third-generation Palestinian-Lebanese student protested to demonstrate their support for a ceasefire agreement and let Harris supporters know that the candidate is not the end-all solution to a historically complex war.
The student feels that a vote for Harris is a vote to continue the genocide and disagrees with the sentiment that a vote against Harris or voting for a third-party candidate gives a vote to Trump.
“People are very eager to not endure Trump again,” the student said. “And I completely understand that, but I’m here today to get people to understand that Kamala Harris is not an angel. She is not the fix-all. She is a part of the administration that is causing this genocide in Gaza.”
Arun urges voters to explore options other than Harris and Trump when casting their ballot for the Nov. 5 election.
“If committing a genocide is not a red line for you and it’s pledging to continually support a genocide, and if you still claim that there are only two options [and say] that ‘We have to vote,’ I really implore you guys to take a step back,” Arun said.
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