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Inquiring Photographer: Thoughts on College Protests over Israel–Hamas War

 

HOPE LANGER, M.D., RIVERDALE
Photo by David Greene

This week, we asked readers for their thoughts on the current protests taking place at colleges across the country regarding the Israel–Hamas war.

 

“All American citizens have a constitutional right to peacefully protest, but these protests have veered over into violence. Calling out for American citizens to be killed because they happen to be Jewish; that’s not free speech, and I feel like any other minority group, Black, brown, gay, LGBTQ people, if somebody had protested calling for them to be physically harmed, that would be gone in an instant, but somehow when it’s about Jewish people, then it becomes free speech.”

Hope Langer M.D.,

Riverdale

 

MOSHE REYES, TREMONT
Photo courtesy of Moshe Reyes

“First and foremost, it was not an attack. It was a terrorist attack. That’s the first thing that needs to be established. The second thing that must be established is that Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization since 1988; they did not just get designated in 2020 or 2021. This is all a part of Hamas’ plan. I’m very well in tune. I read the charter, and this is what they call ‘enticement to genocide’ and the other tactic is what they call ‘urban guerilla warfare.’ I see this ending in a civil war coming to America again.”

Moshe Reyes,

Tremont 

JEFF WYNN, BROOKLYN
Photo by David Greene

“My thoughts on what’s going on? Look, I promote world peace, right? You know there’s a sign for duality, for every ying, there’s a yang. For every negative, there’s a positive. The ideal method would be to promote world peace. The solution would be for individuals to come together and coexist without so much bitterness and animosity and years-long conflict.”

Jeff Wynn,

Brooklyn

 

KEVIN JONES, BEDFORD Park
Photo by David Greene

“I support Israel but what I don’t support is the genocide that’s going on. What happened in Israel deserves retaliation, but 30,000 innocent people dying, I can’t live with that. I don’t know if there’s a solution. I don’t know. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to go; he’s not right.”

Kevin Jones,

Bedford Park

 

JOHN ANDRE VELASQUEZ, Kingsbridge
Photo by David Greene

“Honestly speaking, it has to do with different types of racism and the only way we can fix it is by either coming together as a human race, or to move forward in life and say we can’t care about things we have no control over, like war. The solution to the problem is to keep our families safe and understand the point of views from each side.”

John Andre Velasquez,

Kingsbridge

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.

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