A planned march by UCLA students on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel has sparked strong criticism, with opponents denouncing the event as “depraved.”
Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA is organizing a mass protest on Wednesday, three years after Hamas terrorists launched their unprecedented assault on Israel. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage in the attack.
According to an announcement by the student group, the protest is scheduled to begin at noon on Oct. 7 at Bruin Plaza on the University of California, Los Angeles, campus.
SJP said the demonstration would commemorate what it called three years of “escalated genocide in Palestine” while seeking to “recognize and uplift” Palestinian resistance.
“In the face of Zionist occupation and genocide, the Palestinian people have remained disciplined in the fight toward the inevitable reality of liberation,” the group said in its announcement.
The organization described two central aims for the protest: honoring what it called Palestinian resistance and channeling grief over the conflict into political action.
“The genocide in Palestine has not slowed down, and neither should we,” SJP said.
The group’s language quickly triggered a backlash online, with critics accusing the organizers of showing insensitivity on the anniversary of the Hamas attack.
“This is depraved,” one commenter wrote in response to the announcement on Instagram.
“Looking forward to counterprotesting these bored, uninformed, cosplaying jihadists,” Jon Ronsen wrote.
Another commenter said: “You’re gonna make a lot of noise and get a lot of attention, but victorious? I don’t think Israel will fall because of a bunch of barbarians and their Looney Tunes supporters.”
The California Post has contacted SJP at UCLA for additional comment about the planned demonstration and the criticism it has received.
The Post also sought comment from Jewish groups on campus, including Bruins for Israel and UCLA Hillel, along with Jewish student leaders. They declined to comment on the upcoming protest.
The Oct. 7 anniversary is especially sensitive at UCLA, where tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war have repeatedly led to protests, counterprotests and confrontations.
Last year, about 70 people took part in an anniversary march across campus. Approximately 25 police officers and university personnel were present as the demonstration began.
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Participants carried Palestinian flags and a coffin-shaped object while chanting “Free Palestine,” “Intifada” and “Israel is a terrorist state.”
Protesters also pulled a wagon loaded with red flowers through campus. At the conclusion of the march, they placed paper red poppies inside the coffin-shaped object.
The anniversary has also previously prompted competing demonstrations at UCLA.
On Oct. 7, 2024, about 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched across campus, while roughly 200 Bruins for Israel supporters participated in a silent walk.
Earlier that day, organizers displayed 1,200 flags on campus to represent those killed in the Hamas attack. At least one person was observed kicking the flags.
In 2024, pro-Palestinian demonstrators also established an encampment at UCLA’s Royce Quad as protests over Israel’s war in Gaza intensified.
The unrest has since become the subject of a major federal legal battle.
In May, the Justice Department sued the University of California, alleging UCLA was deliberately indifferent to discrimination and harassment targeting Jewish and Israeli students, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The DOJ pointed specifically to the April 2024 encampment, alleging Jewish and Israeli students were assaulted, excluded from parts of campus and denied educational opportunities.
UCLA has strongly disputed the federal government’s characterization of its response and says it has introduced significant reforms to campus safety and protest policies.
The university was also hit with a temporary suspension of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research grants in 2025 amid Trump administration allegations of antisemitism and bias. UCLA said grants suspended by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and Department of Energy were later reinstated.
Just last week, the University of California escalated its legal fight with Washington, asking a federal judge to dismiss the DOJ’s lawsuit and branding the government’s case “political coercion.”
UC is also fighting a federal demand for repayment of more than $2 billion in UCLA research grants.
Wednesday’s demonstration comes as the bitter divide over Israel and Gaza on American college campuses enters its fourth year.
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