Members of the group behind the Gaza solidarity encampment at IU say they're hoping to avoid clashes with supporters of Israel organizing a campus rally.
The group of Israel supporters is planning a demonstration Thursday afternoon at the Showalter Fountain, which is also on IU’s campus.
Read more: IU Jewish community members call for safety of encampment protesters
It's led by Gunther Jikeli, associate director of IU’s Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism who teaches Jewish and Germanic studies.
“Pro-Hamas views remain on the fringes and the vast majority at IU abhors terrorism,” Jikeli said in a statement announcing the event.
“We realize that many students who share our perspective will have left campus already for the summer, but we thought it was important to show that there is in fact opposition to the false narrative being presented about Hamas, including on this campus,” he said.
Jikeli says anyone who condemns the glorification of Hamas is welcome.
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The planned pro-Israel rally is set to be held at a nearby but separate area of IU from the pro-Palestinian encampment at Dunn Meadow.
The Dunn Meadow tent camp is one of dozens across the U.S. on college campuses calling on universities to divest from Israel.
While the protesters in Bloomington have remained peaceful, violent clashes have broken out at competing demonstrations on other campuses.
“We have no interest in that,” Bryce Greene, a spokesperson for the IU Divestment Coalition, which organized the tent protest, said Wednesday. “If they want to be hateful, I guess we can’t stop them. We can only ensure that everyone here is safe.”
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Greene says the group isn’t leaving Dunn Meadow until its demands are met.
“If they come this way, we want to ensure that nothing that we do gets disrupted by hate and people who are very clearly out to antagonize and intimidate,” he said.
Greene’s group is planning to hold a rally at 10 a.m. Thursday in Dunn Meadow.
The pro-Israel demonstration at Showalter Fountain starts at 2 p.m.
The competing protests are likely to increase police presence on campus, at least temporarily.
Indiana State Police have arrested more than 50 participants — including Greene — since the coalition set up its tents a week ago.
But Greene says members of his group aren’t afraid.
“As long as the police don’t try to shut down the camp, they can do what police do,” he said.
The IU Divestment Coalition is calling on IU to cut ties with the Crane naval center and divest from Israel. They also want IU's leadership to resign.
Aubrey Wright contributed to this report.
