Samad Hakani, Photography Editor

Ever since war formally broke out between Israel and Hamas, Danya Dubrow-Compaine ’25 has been overcome with emotion. Scrolling through recent headlines, she said, has felt like a “freight train” that she could not stop. 

“In addition to just feelings of overwhelming grief, I’ve also just felt an overwhelming sense of coming up short and not doing enough,” Dubrow-Compaine told the News.

With other Jewish students on campus, Dubrow-Compaine organized the student group “Jews for Ceasefire,” which led an event on Beinecke Plaza on the afternoon of Nov. 16.

At the event, over 100 community members sat outside Schwarzman Center to sing Jewish prayers and songs.The songs included Lo Yisa Goy, Olam Chesed Yibaneh and Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu, and organizers distributed QR codes that linked to the prayers and songs, along with Jews for Ceasefire’s statement.

On Oct. 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing at least 1,200 people in Israel and taking more than 230 hostages, per Israel’s Foreign Ministry. Israel responded with a formal declaration of war against Hamas, airstrikes and a ground invasion of Gaza, killing more than 11,180 people in Gaza from Oct. 7 to Nov. 10 and displacing more than two-thirds of the population, the Post reported, citing figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza and from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In the statement read to the crowd during Thursday’s demonstration, the group called on the University to divest from all companies involved in weapons manufacturing. The group also called on Yale to protect student organizing on campus, citing the suspension of student groups at Brandeis University and Columbia University. 

“We are witnessing the suppression of pro-Palestinian speech across the United States, and we are troubled by the censorship of chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace on campuses including Brandeis and Columbia,” the statement read. 

Student ceasefire efforts come amid national calls for a ceasefire. On Wednesday evening, U.S. Capitol police officers had to evacuate the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington after approximately 150 protesters gathered to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, according to Reuters. That same day, 24 members of Congress penned a public letter calling on the Biden-Harris Administration to support a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza in order “to protect the one million children living there.”

Yale currently does not invest in weapons retailers in accordance with the Investments Office’s Ethical Investment Policy, but these regulations do not apply to weapons manufacturing. The group’s statement says they are “concerned” that the University is financing the “killing of civilians through its investments in companies associated with the Israeli military.” 

“Yale adopted a formal divestment policy that requires Yale to divest from retail outlets that market and sell assault weapons to the general public,” University spokesperson Karen Peart wrote to the News. “The Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility is studying whether there are grounds to revisit the policy under the university’s ethical investment framework.”

The group also called on Representative Rosa DeLauro to sign the Ceasefire Now Resolution, which urges the U.S. to call for a de-escalation of the conflict and ceasefire as well as facilitate access to humanitarian aid in Gaza.

On Friday, Nov. 17, DeLauro wrote in a statement — to which a spokesperson referred the News — that she believes the “people of Gaza deserve a better future” and “peace must be our ultimate goal and a two-state solution.” She commended the Biden administration for sending $100 million in humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza and West Bank, and said she has given “strong support” to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. 

As of Nov. 19, DeLauro has not signed the Ceasefire Now Resolution.

“Israel has our unequivocal support as they seek to defeat Hamas,” DeLauro’s statement read. “While they engage in that effort, they should take every precaution to protect innocent lives. As we work to ensure Israel receives the resources it needs to defend itself, I will work to ensure the Palestinian people quickly receive the humanitarian aid they need to survive.”

DeLauro emphasized that “the Palestinian people are not Hamas” and added that Israel must end the role of Hamas in Gaza “while we work together to minimize harm to civilian populations.”

The Jews for Ceasefire event was not attended only by Jewish students. Other non-Jewish students were also in attendance — a partnership that Charlie Nevins ’25, one of the main organizers, found “powerful.”

“We really wanted this event to be for everyone,” Nevins told the News. “Obviously, it’s led by Jews, but I think our Jewish values say that ‘every life is meaningful, every life should be protected.’ That’s something that I think everyone can get behind.” 

Prior to the gathering, the group did not notify the University of their actions, per the organizers.

Instead, the group categorized their demands and the event as a “first step.”

“The group is hoping to continue organizing beyond this,” Ella Goldblum ’24, one of the main organizers, told the News. “We are looking to collaborate with a lot of other groups on campus [that] are doing the research surrounding endowment justice.” 

These groups include the Endowment Justice Coalition and the Racial Capitalism and Carceral State Working Group, which is a part of Yale’s graduate schools. 

Yale’s Jews for Ceasefire, according to its organizers, has also been in communication with students at other universities — namely Harvard, Columbia and Brown — that have hosted similar events in recent weeks. 

“We’ve been trying to do stuff in tandem [with these groups] so that our message has a bigger impact,” Dubrow-Compaine explained. 

The Schwarzman Center and Beinecke Plaza are located at 168 Grove St.

Correction, Nov. 17: The article’s description of the prayers and songs has been amended.

Update, Nov. 19: The article has been updated to include a statement from Rep. Rosa DeLauro.