![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mustangnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_3969-1-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>The group of protesters directly entered the classroom where MUFI hosted their event. A protester did not fit into the classroom and stood outside the door with two signs as fellow protesters chanted to those inside the classroom. Credit: Seth Pintar \/ Mustang News<\/p>\n\u201cAccording to the UN, the war in Gaza is a genocide<\/a>,\u201d an engineering senior told Mustang News. \u201cWe\u2019re here to say that\u2019s not okay.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Cal Poly police asked the protesters to leave the room based on their violation of Cal Poly\u2019s Time, Place and Manner policy<\/a>. The protesters moved into the hallway, chanting slogans such as \u201cFrom the river to the sea, Palestine will soon be free.\u201d Eventually, protesters were asked to go outside, so they would not disrupt the event.<\/p>\n Five Cal Poly police officers and two peace ambassadors were present, along with a Cal Poly drone hovering over Baker.<\/p>\n The first speaker, Saat, joined the IDF at 18. On Oct. 7, he fought at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near the Gaza border, where he said his unit evacuated more than 30 families.\u00a0<\/p>\n He described the morning after the evacuation, when a grenade exploded as his unit cleared a house, severely wounding two soldiers, including his company commander, Malka. Separated from his unit in the smoke, Saat said he came under fire and killed an armed Hamas fighter before going back for the wounded men.<\/p>\n \u201cI was shaking. I could not talk, I could not look at your eyes,\u201d he said, looking at the audience.<\/p>\n Saat said he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder for four months afterward.\u00a0<\/p>\n MUFI co-president Maya Paul said the event was intended in part to address mental health among soldiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMental health and PTSD, it\u2019s not a weakness,\u201d she said. \u201cOur motivation behind [the event] is to give people a stage to talk and share their experience, especially IDF soldiers who have done so much for us and deserve so much back.\u201d<\/p>\n Attendee Guy Kalach, a mechanical engineering senior, has family who lives in Israel and serves in the IDF.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe survival of Israel is very important to me,\u201d Kalach said. \u201cIt\u2019s my second home, and I find it important to listen to these stories so we remember and are able to remember our resilience and the bravery of our soldiers in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n The second speaker, Green, spoke of similar struggles with mental health. He served five years in the IDF\u2019s Duvdevan unit and is now a fifth-year medical student at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He was in Sri Lanka on Oct. 7, 2023, cut the trip short and entered Gaza with his unit on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n About a week later, he said flying debris from an explosion struck him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI had a shrapnel that entered my ear, went out and entered my skull,\u201d Green said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He later developed insomnia and anxiety.<\/p>\n At the end of Green\u2019s presentation, some protesters, unmasking themselves, challenged the speakers on civilian casualties and damage to schools and hospitals in Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n Arjun Ramanathan, civil engineering junior, said he attended to raise awareness of the war\u2019s toll on Palestinian civilians.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s happening in Israel and Gaza and the West Bank: there\u2019s a genocide happening there, and to see buildings in rubble, 94%<\/a> of hospitals destroyed and damaged, 97%<\/a> of schools destroyed and damaged, 64,000<\/a> children killed or injured,\u201d Ramanathan said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to just sit on the couch at that moment. So I was motivated to come out here and spread the word.\u201d<\/p>\n Kayla Chen, an interdisciplinary studies junior, attended alongside Ramanathan. She said students on both sides agree that the killing of children is wrong but strongly disagree over whose figures to trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI talked with some of the students here, while they do agree that atrocities are being committed and killing children is bad, they also disagree on the facts and figures and the number of children, and they just get so stuck in the weeds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Seth Pintar and Samantha Hansen contributed to this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Protesters interrupted an on-campus event hosting veterans of the Israel Defense Forces on Sunday. The veterans spoke about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[74946,74947,496,1411,37,1663,74948,58894,5330,1381],"class_list":["post-274368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-cal-poly-chabad","tag-cal-poly-police","tag-gaza","tag-hamas","tag-israel","tag-israel-defense-forces","tag-mustangs-united-for-israel","tag-post-traumatic-stress-disorder","tag-protesters","tag-veterans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117200058029096840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>The protesters continued their protest inside of Baker Hall as they left the classroom. Cal Poly PD asked for the protesters to move their protest outside to allow other students, who were not involved with the event, to exit and enter the building without disruption. Credit: Seth Pintar \/ Mustang News<\/p>\n<\/a>Speaker Eliyahu Green described leaving Sri Lanka, where he was taking summer vacation from medical school, to go to Gaza and join the IDF. Credit: Riya Minglani \/ Mustang News<\/p>\n<\/a>The protesters set their signs up to be viewed by people walking in and out of the building. Credit: Samantha Hansen \/ Mustang News<\/p>\n