I first heard about a potential assembly addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict as a freshman. During conversations at Muslim Students Association meetings regarding past attempts at addressing the conflict in assemblies, I became very aware of how sensitive and undiscussed the topic is. I had heard about student leaders trying to work with administrators to coordinate another assembly, but their plans never truly came to fruition.
The assembly was initially scheduled for Nov. 13, 2023, but after Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, the event was pushed back. The office of diversity, equity and inclusion scheduled speakers from the peace-resolution organization Seeds of Peace, who wanted to take time to process the attacks before talking at the assembly, according to Assistant Head of School for Equity and Inclusion Marlo Thomas.
After the Oct. 7 attacks, I thought that an assembly educating students about the conflict and acknowledging it was not only important but necessary. There was a heightened sense of awareness about the war, and because of that, there was a bigger expectation for the administration to address the conflict. The extended planning period for this assembly amplified students’ anticipation of an assembly that would hopefully directly address the war.
On April 5, after months of planning, GDS finally hosted an all–high school assembly about the conflict. The office of diversity, equity and inclusion brought in three speakers from Seeds of Peace: Antwan Saca from Palestine, Jonathan Hefetz from Israel and Monica Baky from Egypt. According to an email sent by associate director of diversity, equity and inclusion Guyton Mathews, the assembly was an “invaluable opportunity for us to hear firsthand accounts and stories from individuals who the conflict has directly impacted, and to gain insight into the remarkable work being done to promote resolution and reconciliation.”
Going into the assembly on April 5, I had hoped that the speakers would home in on educating us about the history of the conflict and what makes conversation about it so fraught. Instead, the speakers primarily focused on their ties to the war and how it furthered their connection to Seeds of Peace, which made the assembly feel disconnected from the conflict.
While having the assembly was a huge step in increasing our community’s discussion of the war, the speakers needed to talk more about the history and the specific atrocities we see happening on a daily basis—kidnappings, sexual assault and mass killings of civilians in Gaza and Israel. The assembly, in many ways, felt like a passive acknowledgement of the war, noting that it is important, but not doing much beyond that. It is a given that the conflict is important, but providing students with the foundational history to make change and generate informed opinions about it would have made the assembly much more impactful.
Mathews asked students to attend the assembly with these questions in mind: “Why do I believe it is important to engage in this conversation?” and “what does engaging in this conversation mean to me?”
However, how can the student body be expected to engage in any type of conversation when the speakers did not provide any historical background or explicit insight into the atrocities happening as they spoke? While well-intentioned, GDS administrators expect students to be able to engage in discourse about the war without the proper knowledge to do so. Many students lack the historical context both to understand what the speakers talked about in the assembly and then to have meaningful conversations afterward.
This assembly was a great way of introducing the GDS community to the topic of the Israeli-Palestinian war. However, it lacked nuance. The assembly needed to address the war more head-on. While the personal stories of the speakers are important, learning about their journeys would have felt much more powerful had they explicitly spoken about their lives in relation to the death toll and numerous atrocities occurring in Israel and Gaza today.
GDS staff and students alike should treat this assembly both as an introduction to the topic and as a new era of education and dialogue about the conflict. A topic like the Israel-Palestine war requires understanding, context and advocacy. Using the April 5 assembly to note that conversation between people with opposing opinions is possible, we can foster an environment for GDS students to do the same. I urge administrators to help educate us about the history of Israel and Palestine and stop avoiding tough conversations about the topic. As figures who take the lead on planning assemblies that address serious issues impacting our community, it is in part the administration’s responsibility to deliberately educate us about the war, as it is actively unfolding before our eyes.