Open Letter by TAU International Students

(Photo Credit: TAU)

31 October 2023 |

Please Support TAU’s Uniform to University Fund

We are a group of international students at Tel Aviv University coming from all corners of the globe. We have different backgrounds, a spectrum of study interests, diverse political views, races, and religions.

However, we have united to share the truth about what we are seeing and experiencing here in Israel.

On the 7th of October, 2023, we were woken up not by the rays of a beautiful morning sun but by the sound of the sirens. We were shocked and unprepared, and especially unprepared for what the day was about to bring. With every passing hour, it became more and more clear that we woke up to war, to a new reality where Israel was attacked by the terrorist group Hamas. It is hard to believe how many horrific things happened during the past week. From the Tel-Aviv area, we began to hear news from the south of the country about the terrorists massacring young people in a peace festival, about killing, raping, and kidnapping innocent people, about massive bombings leading to the complete destruction of various villages and the death of hundreds of citizens. Not to mention the barbaric acts of beheading kids or recording the torturing of hostages. We believe that the world needs to see and recognize that these are nothing other than acts of terrorism.

We are writing these words on a day when Israeli soldiers are still sacrificing their lives to defend their brothers and sisters, innocent people are kept hostage, and we grow anxious every time we hear the siren. In the meantime, we hear sounds even more concerning than those coming from the battle, voices of people who justify the attacks, support the terror, and remain blind to the fact that this is more than just “a regular conflict in the Middle East.” Hearing that, we decided that we can not remain silent. We decided to use our knowledge and international perspective to raise the awareness of societies worldwide. This time, it is not about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. What is happening in Israel right now is a threat to all humans everywhere, and therefore all should unite against it.

We stand with humanity. We believe this is not a war of Israelis against Palestinians or Jews against Arabs. This is a war of humanity against terrorism, of good versus evil.

Signed,

Ina Memaj, Albania	Suzana Abuleac Steinberg, Brazil	Zhiyi Cui, China
Demian Aisicovich, Argentina	Avery Deveto, Canada	Santiago Sarmiento, Colombia
Maia Bornsztein, Argentina	Ben Bright, Canada	Alisa Gumerova, Czech Republic
Pablo Rodriguez Osztreicher, Argentina	Melissa Greenspan, Canada	Tereza Becková, Czech Republic
Loren Kertsman, Austria	Rebekah Petchatnikov, Canada	Alexandra Ruf, Ecuador
Elvin Khasiyev, Azerbaijan	Ximena Silberman, Chile	Ambre Demeure, France
Rafael Nabizade, Azerbaijan	Ping’an Li, China	Anaïs Herbillon, France
Carole Hitter, Belgium, Israel	Wei Zeng, China	David Nataf, France
Giovanna Melo, Brazil	Zhi Li, China	Nina Wexler, France
Denise Chisom Jaeschke, Germany	Gina Krymalowski, Germany	Janina Rebhan, Germany
Freya Prein, Germany	Janka Hoefer, Germany	Maria Heusch, Germany
Marian Blok, Germany	Philipp Hofmann, Germany	Stefanie Schulz, Germany, United States
Evangelia Akritidou, Greece	Michail Kitsos, Greece, United States	Annamária Balogh, Hungary
Edvin Gobanyi, Hungary	Alon Shepon, Israel	Elie Francois, Israel
Erica Katzin, Israel	Olga Mondrus, Israel	Rodney John, Israel
Anamika Kumari, India	Anway Pradhan, India	Chaitanya Patel, India
Deepan Chowdhury, India	Dhiraj Udapure, India	Lakshminarasaiah Uppalapati, India
Mahekdeep Kaur, India	Meera Cheviri, India	Mrinal Kashyap, India
Poulami Chakraborty, India	Prakash Varkey Cherian, India	Pritee Subhadarshini, India
Pushpendra Mani, India	Sagnik Biswas, India	Shiven Nath, India
Sreyashi Bhowmick, India	Iori Saze, Japan	Daniel Ganda, Kenya
Emmanuel Opondo, Kenya	Purity Mumbi Muchoki, Kenya	Alex Mulbah, Liberia
Ieva Vebraite Adereth, Lithuania	Maria Ellul, Malta	Andrea Garza Díaz Barriga, Mexico
Mijal Bercovich, Mexico	Paola Perez Gallardo Garibay, Mexico	Markus McCraith, New Zealand
Veronica Igube, Nigeria	Zofia Sznajder, Poland	Catia Carvalho, Portugal
Reis, Portugal	Razvan Mocanu	Anastasia Mikunis, Russia
Evgenia Kurmashova, Russia	Evgeniy Rodnyanskiy, Russia, Israel	Denis Dmitriev, Russia
Dmitrii Sukhanov, Russia	Dolgor Baldorzhieva, Russia	Taisiya Ilizarova, Russia
Eugene L., Singapore	Adam Angel, South Africa	Tyla Shur, South Africa
Minji Jin, South Korea	Pin Ying Huang, Taiwan	Alexander Viches, Ukraine
Mykhailo Rozhkov, Ukraine	Tanya Albrecht, Ukraine	Valeriia Svirska, Ukraine
Margherita Calice, United Kingdom	Alex Blecker, United States	Annika Hauser, United States
Ari Spielman, United States	Batya Goldberg, United States	Benny Rushfield, United States
David Guttman, United States	Ella Nudell, United States	Elisha Heching, United States
Elisheva Ely, United States	Eva Fabian, United States, Israel	Gabriella Jacobs, United States
Kat Lacey, United States	Kayla Goldberger, United States	Larry French, United States
Jordyn Engel, United States	Joshua Levin, United States	Rachel Thau, United States
Rachel Thau, United States	Rina Poran, United States	Samantha Trenk, United States
Sander Ashman, United States	Sarah Carr, United States	Shoshana Markowitz, United States
Sophie Humphers, United States	Tamar Ford, United States	Yael Shmilovitz, United States
Yaron Ginsberg, United States, Israel	Zev Huneycutt, United States	Luis Hamel, Venezuela