CINCINNATI — More than two dozen Cincinnati Public Schools students lined the steps of City Hall Monday condemning the Israel-Hamas war and what they call the unjust killing of thousands of Palestinian people.
Students held handmade signs reading "Free Palestine," "Stop the Occupation" and "Stop Funding Genocide" among others.
"We're not pro-Hamas, we're not pro-Israel, we're pro-Palestine," said Braxton James Simmons, a School for the Creative and Performing Arts student who organized the walkout.
He and fellow SCPA students left their campus at 10:30 a.m. in a collective call for a ceasefire to the fighting in Gaza.
"I truly believe that Palestine should be free and we should take some type of action," Simmons said. "Some people might call me a radicalist but I believe to see a change in the world you have to go out there and make a difference and I feel like this is what we're doing."
The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by an attack by the militant group Hamas on Oct. 7. It killed roughly 1,200 Israelis in what is considered the deadliest assault on Jewish people since the Holocaust.
The group claims in the months since the attack, Israel has led a genocide of the Palestinian people.
"A lot of people supporting Israel right now say this was an act of self-defense, which is not true," SCPA junior Ali Wahl said. "Netanyahu wants to use this as an attack to put a mass extinction on Palestine."
Wahl addressed her crowd of peers, telling them Israel's decades-long occupation of the region is to blame for the ongoing conflict.
"If you occupy another state it is an obligation to protect them, but because of (Israel's) beliefs, they don't believe that Palestine is a state, so do not listen to the people who say it is an act of self defense," she said.
Mason rabbi Yosef Kalmanson said the students' words are disheartening.
"It's misguided," he said.
Israel's military response is self-defense, he argued.
"Any sovereign country should absolutely be there to protect the safety and security of its citizens," Kalmanson said. "The issue at hand is what does Israel have to do to assure the security of its citizens and this is the only way it sees to do it — would be to eradicate Hamas."
Hamas is the elected governing body in Gaza and has ruled since 2006. Kalmanson said while any loss of innocent life is tragic, it is the byproduct of war, which in this case, he said, was forced onto Israel by Hamas.
The rabbi also expressed his frustration with the students' "pro-Palestine" views, claiming social media has warped the reality of the conflict.
"Whatever TikTok says becomes the Holy Grail," Kalmanson said. "Part of the terror tactics administered by Hamas and others like it is a propaganda war. 'We're going to get the world to stand up against the Jews, and we're going to scream genocide and apartheid and colonialism and just throw out all these terrible sounding words.' Our young generation is falling for that. They're becoming pawns really of Hamas and other terrorist organizations. They're playing right into that."
The students argued their stance is not anti-Semitic, but that they want Israel to stop fighting in Gaza so no more Palestinians are caught in the crossfire.
WCPO reached out to CPS to inquire whether the students would face consequences for leaving school on Monday.
"This morning, several School for Creative and Performing Arts students planned and participated in a demonstration against the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, before returning to class," the district said in a statement. "CPS supports students using their voices, as long as it is safe and not harmful to peers, recognizing that understanding different perspectives fosters a culture of tolerance and inclusivity. No students were disciplined for participating in the walkout, though discipline may be issued for students who did not return to school per the CPS Code of Conduct."
