A commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of Israel’s independence took place Thursday in White Plaza, in what has become an annual Stanford tradition.

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Mehmet Inonu

Students lined up for free falafel in White Plaza yesterday during Israel Pride Week, a week-long celebration commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of Israeli independence. The event was sponsored by Hillel at Stanford, the Jewish Student Association and the Stanford Israel Alliance.

The celebration was met by a small peaceful counter-demonstration.

The festival, a part of Israel Pride Week, was sponsored by Hillel at Stanford, the Jewish Student Association and the Stanford Israel Alliance (SIA).

Lexi Shechtel ‘10, co-president of the SIA and joint organizer of Israel Pride Week, said the event was organized to be a joyous remembrance of Israel’s independence and an opportunity to expose the Stanford community to a side of Israel that they usually do not see on the nightly news. Schectel said that she and other organizers did not want the cultural celebration to be drawn into the political rhetoric that often clouds the region.

“On [the] Fourth of July, we don’t talk about Bush, or Republicans, or Democrats. We celebrate America,” Schectel said. “And that’s what we were trying to do [for Israel].

The organizers chose to hold the event in White Plaza in order to include both Jews and non-Jews in the celebration.

“One of the benefits of going to a diverse university such as Stanford is learning about a diverse set of cultures,” said Adina Danzig, executive director of Hillel at Stanford. “A purpose of every cultural student group is to celebrate that culture in an open way and thereby enrich the university as a whole.”

Thirty yards from the snaking line for free falafel, about twenty students held a quiet protest against alleged human rights abuses in Israel and the occupied territories with signs demanding an “End to the Apartheid.” Although no student group officially sponsored the protest, many of the protesters were members of student groups concerned with human rights in the Middle East.

Amanda Gelender ‘09, co-chair of the Jewish Committee on Human Rights (J-COHR), said that it’s important for her as a Jew to speak out for greater human rights in Israel. J-COHR is a committee under Students Confronting Apartheid by Israel (SCAI), a student group that encourages Stanford University to divest from companies in Israel or the occupied territories that profit from human rights violations.

“Since Israel is a Jewish state, it supposedly speaks for our actions,” Gelender said. “Attempting to defend the human rights abuses of Israel undermines the roots of the Jewish faith, tikkun olam [literally meaning “world repair” in Hebrew].”

SCAI held a Gaza rally and march on Tuesday in White Plaza to protest the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to repeat their call for university divestment. SCAI president Fadi Quran ‘10 said that the scheduling of the SCAI rally during Hillel’s Israel week was not done on purpose but that it was simply the best day available.