Protest in Regina marks first anniversary of attack on Israel

Waving Palestinian flags and chanting to the beat of a drum, students and staff at the University of Regina held a protest on the one-year anniversary of the attack on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas.

Batoul Abouelela, co-president of the University of Regina Students for Justice in Palestine group, walked alongside a group of 60 people protesting Israel’s military response in Gaza.

“We’re here to remind everyone that it hasn’t ended. In fact, it has expanded,” Abouelela said. “It is a genocide.”

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a co-ordinated terrorist attack in Israel, killing around 1,200 people, including children and attendees at a music festival, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Around 100 of those hostages are still being held captive a year later.

Since the conflict began, Israeli counterattacks in the Hamas-held Gaza Strip have left thousands of Palestinians dead.

Students walk through the university halls with red and green signs in support of Palestine. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

Abouelela said it has been a frustrating year.

“We’re told there is a system, there is a core of justice, but it’s been a year and nobody has done anything,” she said.

Regina has seen other pro-Palestinian protests over the past year, which have included two blockades at railroad tracks and a sit-in at the University of Regina.

The past year has been challenging for Rabbi Jeremy Parnes, of the Beth Jacob Synagogue in Regina.

“To say it’s been tough is an understatement,” Parnes told the Evan Bray Show.

Being confronted by the reality that his friends and family in Israel are in danger has been difficult to cope with, he said.

“Just trying to come through my own angst… the mixture of emotions has been remarkable,” Parnes said.

While he has seen antisemitism over the past year, including a bomb threat at the Beth Jacob Synagogue, Parnes said he has also seen incredible support from many Canadians.