EAST LANSING—Members of two Michigan State University student organizations came together on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at the MSU student library to prepare for a protest outside the city’s capitol the following day. Students United for Palestinian Rights and the Arab Cultural Society helped participants create signs and artwork protesting America’s involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict following the incursion by Hamas and subsequent declaration of war this past weekend.

“Since we’re in Lansing, the capital, we decided that it would be most pertinent to send a direct message to our government. We do not want American military involvement in Palestine,” said Samir Levitt, President of SUPR. “You may have seen in the news recently that the U.S. has put Navy boats in the Mediterranean as a threat to people in Palestine, and we are protesting against that.”

“A lot of people have a lot of misconceptions and [are] unfortunately misguided by a lot of things that they hear on social media or the media,” Levitt said. “We want to, as sort of a secondary goal, try to educate people about what’s going on and try to share our message.”

The sign making event also doubled as a lecture about protesting safety held by ACS Vice President Saba Saed.

“We organized this for [protesters] to know what their rights are involving either law enforcement or freedom of speech, freedom to protest,” Saed said. “We want to make sure that we all know how to be respectful and mindful of everyone and how to protect ourselves.”

Tips from the presentation included not interacting with counter-demonstrators, sticking to the sidewalks and knowing your rights when dealing with the police.

“We’re just there to show solidarity and to represent the Palestinian civilians. We’re not focused on creating any conflict or creating a debate,” Saed said. 

The protest will take place outside the Michigan capitol building starting at 5 p.m., Thursday Oct. 12. For any additional information you can visit SUPR or ACS on Instagram.