Eugene saw competing events Tuesday night on the two-year anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attacks against Israel.
Local Jewish groups gathered at the University of Oregon to honor hostages taken by Hamas. They sang, read poetry, and placed flowers in front of photos of the captives.
Rachel Lennard, a UO student and president of Ducks 4 Israel, said she still had hope that the living hostages will make it home.
Since the attacks happened two years ago, Lennard said she’s grown closer to Israel and to her Jewish faith.
“Being a pro-Israel student has felt very isolating in the last two years,” said Lennard. “But Ducks 4 Israel and Oregon Hillel have worked very hard for people who are pro-Israel to have a place where they can share their beliefs and not be afraid to feel the way that they do.”
At the same time, a crowd gathered at the park blocks in downtown Eugene to denounce Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, which a United Nations commission has called a genocide.
Justin Filip, secretary of the Pacific Green Party and a local congressional candidate, said the U.S. needs to use its leverage by ending military aid to Israel.
Filip credited protests over the past two years for helping shift public opinion against Israel’s actions—but he said some of the people in power still haven’t caught up.
“For a lot of Palestinians, it is too late,” said Filip. “But for many that are still alive and still struggling over there, we owe it to them.”
The protestors marched through Eugene, eventually reaching UO’s campus. There, a speaker declared that the student encampment—which occupied campus lawns for more than three weeks in the spring of 2024—had not gone far enough.
As the protest continued, a small group passed by, displaying the flag of Israel.
One pro-Palestinian protester responded by trying to show the group photos of dying children in Gaza.
That protester, Jillian Lunyou, told KLCC that people shouldn’t be free to look away from what’s happening in Palestine.
“Children are dying and starving and they can’t go to their schools there. You can see their ribs sticking out of their bodies because they have no food to eat,” said Lunyou. “And so I feel the least I can do is march in the f—— streets and tell them that they need to stop the f—— genocide.”
During the pro-Palestinian protest, some members of the crowd chanted “death to the IDF,” or Israel Defense Forces. And a speaker defended Hamas, saying it had a practical role in the fight for Palestinian liberation.
The protest disbanded without incident. A Eugene Police Department spokesperson said there were no arrests made during the events.
