Disclaimer: Due to safety concerns, the identities of the three soldiers who came to speak have not been disclosed by the Chapman chapter of Students Supporting Israel. 

On May 2, Chapman’s Students Supporting Israel (SSI) organization hosted three former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers to speak on campus. The message: no amount of persecution can break the Jewish spirit.

Though not active duty members of the IDF, the former soldiers, who all grew up in Southern California Jewish communities, spoke highly of the military institution. The soldiers, whose identities had been protected by SSI for their own safety, voluntarily enlisted because they felt it was their duty to protect their fellow Jews. The first soldier to speak at the event is a Chapman alumnus who served in the IDF from 2013 to 2016 in the tanks division, while the following two speakers, who grew up together, trained as snipers.

Photography and recording were strictly prohibited at the event. The event took place over two weeks after a controversial Palestinian influencer came to speak at an on-campus event hosted by Chapman’s Students for Justice in Palestine. Additionally, the day of SSI’s event, SJP set up an encampment outside of Wilkinson Hall, calling for “total divestment,” financial transparency from the university and more.

In speaking on the morality of the IDF, the final speaker detailed the moment he was wounded during combat and took shrapnel to the neck from a bomb near the Gaza border. As a result, he spent several weeks receiving medical care before returning home.

“When I was in the hospital, there was some form of attack near the border, and in the room next to mine, the Palestinian responsible was being treated by the Israelis,” he told attendees.

In further supporting his view of the IDF as the “most moral army”, he explained the exhaustive steps snipers had to take before opening fire. First, they had to ask, once in Arabic and again in Hebrew, why the opposition was approaching the border. Following that, they had to shoot the ground away from the individual before receiving the order to shoot their target.

According to him, the orders snipers received from their superiors were never shoot-to-kill. Instead, they were instructed to target the legs, essentially wounding and disarming their enemies.

Although the soldiers were not active in the IDF on or since Oct. 7, the news of the attacks on Israel affected them profoundly.

The second speaker at the event recalls the moment he and his fellow former sniper first heard of the attacks on Israel.

“On Oct. 7, we were on a camping trip. We got a phone call, and we were told there was a slaughter,” he said at the event. “It was indescribable.”

According to the third speaker, social media is not accurately depicting what is occurring between Israel and Palestine and instead is propaganda that seeks to paint Israel as the aggressor.

“You’re not seeing 100% of what is happening,” he said. “Regardless of what you see on Western media, you’ll understand that the IDF is a moral army that is supplying humanitarian aid to its enemies.”

Chapman is far from the only U.S. college where IDF soldiers have spoken in support of Israel. Since March of this year, IDF soldiers have been invited to speak by Jewish student organizations on several campuses, including Georgetown University, Yale Law School and the State University of New York at New Paltz.

Just mere steps from the SSI event, though, Chapman’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)  and Chapman Democrats have set up a Gaza Solidarity encampment, calling for “total divestment,” financial transparency from the university and more.

The Panther reached out to SJP for comment but was told the organization would not comment on the event.

Peace studies professor Nicole Rangel was one of several professors at Chapman who came to speak at the encampment.

“We have seen a situation of genocide, and I am not going to otherwise classify it as anything else,” Rangel said. “We cannot look at Gaza as anything other than intent to destroy in whole or in part the Palestinian people.”

Additionally, prior to the event, Chapman’s Department of Public Safety established barricades around Irvine Lecture Hall, where the event was hosted.

Although the death toll of Palestinians has exceeded 30,000 since last October, the former soldiers remain constant in their support of the IDF and the Israeli government, claiming the conflict is an antisemitic attempt to eradicate their people from land that belongs to them.

As the event came to a close, the former tank operator left attendees with one final message:

“You don’t have to justify your identity to anybody.”

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the final speaker was wounded near the West Bank. The speaker was actually wounded near the Gaza border. Additionally, the caption for the barricade photos said that the barricades were placed around Memorial Hall, but the barricades were actually placed around Irvine Lecture Hall. This information has been corrected. We regret the errors.

Update: This article has been updated to include information about the event taking place weeks after a controversial Palestinian speaker visited campus and the encampment that is currently on campus.