YuLin Zhen, Photography Editor

More than 200 students and locals gathered on the New Haven Green Friday afternoon to protest Yale’s 2023 distribution of donor money to an Israeli military backer at a rally organized by Yalies4Palestine — the group’s first public event of the school year.

Nearly two weeks ago, the Endowment Justice Collective –– a student group that, according to its social media accounts, advocates for Yale’s divestment from “extractive and exploitative industries” –– identified in an Instagram post Yale’s $1 million donation to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces based on tax filings from the fiscal year that ended in June 2024. 

Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, a New York-based charity, fundraises to support soldiers in the Israeli military, according to its website.

A student spokesperson for Yalies4Palestine, who requested anonymity for concerns about potential disciplinary action from the University, said the “traction” gained by the Endowment Justice Collective’s recent publicization of the donation motivated Y4P to organize its first rally since Yale revoked the group’s student organization status in April for its role in promoting a nighttime protest on Beinecke Plaza. 

“What brought me here is that my school is investing the money that’s supposed to be used for our education and to pay the workers like those in Local 34 and 35 in the Friends of the IDF,” Phill McCoy-Campbell GRD ’31, a doctoral student who spoke at the rally, said in an interview.

UNITE HERE Local 34 and Local 35, unions representing Yale’s clerical and technical and its service and maintenance workers, held a rally attended by around 2,000 supporters on Thursday to advocate for increased wages and benefits the unions hope to achieve in their current contract negotiations.

A day later, pro-Palestinian protesters convened on the New Haven Green on Friday evening and marched along College Street and Alexander Walk to Beinecke Plaza, arriving there around 6 p.m. Before dispersing around 6:40 p.m., the protesters chalked messages onto the plaza and erected a cardboard missile structure reading “$1000000 TO THE IDF.”

Shannon Hong ’29 said she attended the rally after learning of Yale’s donation to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, which was made through a donor-advised fund — a type of gift that allows a donor to recommend that their funds be donated to specific charitable organizations. 

Though Yale holds veto power over the donor’s recommendation, it rarely denies donors’ preferences, an administrator wrote to the News in 2001. Tina Posterli, a University spokesperson, told the News last week that Yale approves donor-recommended charities if they are U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organizations.

“I know it wasn’t directly from Yale –– it was facilitated by Yale, but the fact that they chose to facilitate that transaction is wrong considering how many people have been murdered by the IDF,” Hong said in an interview. “I think putting pressure on the administration can potentially lead to more backlash for Yale’s decision.”

Per the Y4P spokesperson, the rally was also in protest of Israel’s recent ground invasion of Gaza City, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to New York City for the United Nations General Assembly and the Yale Corporation’s rejection of student demands for Yale to divest its holdings in military weapons manufacturers.

In response to a student referendum demanding divestment from weapons manufacturers overwhelmingly passed by undergraduate students in December, University President Maurie McInnis said Yale has “well-established policies and procedures” about disclosing or divesting its endowment holdings. Her response directed students to webpages about the University’s investor responsibility policies and its Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility.

A University statement sent to the News in an unsigned email from Yale’s Office of Public Affairs and Communications claims that the protesters’ gathering on campus was unauthorized, and that administrators told protesters at Beinecke Plaza that “they did not have permission to be there.”

“No group registered or obtained permission to use the space, thereby violating the university’s time, place, and manner policies,” the statement reads. “While the group dispersed quickly after entering campus, they also violated chalking and postering policies.”

Chalk messages drawn by protesters around Beinecke Plaza included “MY YALE TUITION FUNDS GENOCIDE,” “REINVEST in NEW HAVEN” and “GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA,” as well as a handful of expletives toward Israel and Zionism. These messages, as well as the cardboard missile structure, were removed overnight. 

The University’s statement did not answer the News’ questions about whether the administration was involved in removing the chalk messages or whether students involved in the rally will face disciplinary consequences.

In addition to Y4P, the rally was sponsored by American Muslims for Palestine’s Connecticut chapter and We Will Return, a Connecticut-based non-profit organization that advocates for Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their ancestral lands.

By the end of the rally, at least six Yale Police officers and two public safety officials were seen stationed around the protesters. 

Andrew Rice, a Milford resident who launched a committee to explore the possibility of running against Rep. Rosa DeLauro to represent Connecticut’s 3rd District in Congress, attended the Friday rally. 

In an interview at the protest, Rice said that “sending money to Israel” is closely related to unsolved domestic issues in the United States. 

“I try and urge people to see the intersectionality between the failures of having our own needs met and sending money over to commit genocide, because these are issues that we could tackle with one solution,” Rice said in an interview at the rally. “Stop sending money to Israel and invest that money here at home so that people can live lives that they deserve.”

Students for Justice in Palestine has more than 350 chapters across North America, according to the national collective’s website.