More than a hundred people gathered at the MSU Rock Tuesday evening to remember Tariq Thabet, a Humphrey fellow at MSU who was killed along with 15 members of his family in an Israeli bombing of his apartment.
The Rock, MSU’s ever changing message board, was emblazoned with the words “Tariq Thabet, martyr, 1985-2023, 10,000+ since October 7,” denoting the casualties in Gaza since the Hamas attack on Oct 7.
David Hogan, a Jewish Sophomore at MSU, was one of the students painting the rock. He said that Gazans were being killed simply for being Palestinian, condemning IDF airstrikes and bombings that have resulted in thousands of civilian deaths.
The vigil featured speeches from community organizers, and from people who knew Thabet personally. MSU President Teresa Woodruff offered her condolences over Thabet’s death.
In an interview with WKAR, Samir Levitt, the president of MSU Students United for Palestinian Rights said the death of Thabet hit close to home.
““To me, as a Muslim, we believe that when you kill one person, it’s like you’ve killed the entire universe. But to see someone who was so close to this campus murdered like that along with his whole family was more deeply personal,” Levitt said.
“Seeing you all here gives me hope,” Imam Sohail Chaudhry from the Islamic Center of Greater Lansing said, addressing the crowd, “I did not get close to Brother Tariq when he was here but I have heard such wonderful words from those who knew him. The energy he brought, full of ideas, always positive.”
Thabet, who lived in Central Gaza, frequently advocated for better living conditions for Palestenians when he was in the United States as a Fulbright scholar. In an emotional speech, Anjam Chaudhary, the DEI Coordinator for MSU’s International Studies Program addressed Thabet directly.
“Tariq, we failed to hear your cries, Tariq we couldn’t meet your needs, Tariq we fell short to address flaws within our oppressive systems, we seem to have lost sight of our humanity,” Chaudhary said, choking back tears, “How can I explain and make sense of the fact that there is no one left in your family in your family to grieve your loss.”
Thabet was killed alongside his four children and wife. Anjam Chaudhary said the news brought her “immense sorrow,” saying not even in her “wildest dreams did I think I was going to be organizing a vigil for one of my brilliant students, who had grand dreams would be part of my job.”
Saba Saed is the President of the MSU Arab Cultural Society. She says Muslims like her “wake up to death, eat lunch to death and go to bed thinking of death,” and that Palestinian experiences should not be “denied or minimized.”
The vigil ended with an Islamic invocation, or Dua.
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