For the last month, I have not gone a night without waking up to a notification on my phone alerting me to the latest tragedy taking place in Israel, the West Bank or Gaza. At first, the events unfolding seemed to fit a common narrative: escalatory rhetoric from politicians followed by violent clashes between protesters and police. In the last couple of weeks, the news has felt more personal. Stabbings with knives, vegetable peelers, screwdrivers and meat cleavers have forced millions to constantly check behind their backs in a desperate act of vigilance. And I have struggled with what to think and feel and wrestled with a situation that obscures the cause from the effect.

NU Students for Justice in Palestine’s International Day of Action yesterday was intended to “pay respect to the Palestinian martyrs executed by Israeli forces.” The first two names included on SJP’s list of “Palestinians Murdered” are Muhanned Shafeq Halabi and Fadi Alloun. Halabi was killed by Israeli security forces after he stabbed two Israeli men to death and injured two more. Alloun similarly stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli victim and was killed by Israeli police as he ran toward Jerusalem’s light rail. I hope I am not alone in thinking that these two men do not merit the title of martyrs.

Unnatural death is always tragic. And the deaths of Palestinians at the hands of Jewish extremists deserve the same sorrow as Israeli deaths.

However, to not recognize the context in which events such as these took place is appalling. Instead of educating, SJP’s demonstration reenacted horror. Members of SJP, like any student group, deserve to have their voices heard within the marketplace of ideas. But when reality screams a different truth than they offer, students should be aware. Being aware demands an engagement with facts.

I will mourn, I will remember and I will most certainly be aware.

— Nathan Bennett, JUF’s Israel Education Center and Hillel Israel Intern