On Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023 at 10:30 a.m., over 150 Berkeley High School students walked out in support of Palestine in regards to the recent events in Israel and Gaza.
The walkout was planned by two BHS seniors, Nur Makdisi and Muhammad Delgado. While attending a protest organized by Bears for Palestine, a UC Berkeley activism organization, Makdisi and Delgado received flyers from the Arab Resource Organization Center promoting a national protest on Oct. 18 for high schoolers to walk out in support of Palestine. This spurred them to organize a walkout at BHS.
“As a Palestinian, I felt it was really important to bring awareness to what was happening and bring the truth,” Makdisi said. “It’s just something that’s really important to me.”
On Saturday, Oct. 7 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, firing thousands of rockets and executing an air, sea, and land attack. Hamas is a militant group that has been the ruling power of the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is a designated terrorist group by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.
In response to the Oct. 7 attack, Israel launched a series of retaliatory air strikes, and as of Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, the Israeli military made incursions into the Gaza Strip.