Edina, MN – In alignment with the national student walkout in solidarity with Palestine, held Wednesday, October 25, students at Edina High School held a walkout and speak-out for Palestine.

Edina is an inner-ring Twin Cities suburb; the school is a predominantly white institution, with enrollment of students of color being at only 33% according to US News. Nevertheless, Muslim students wanted to make sure their voices were heard, especially while faculty have made statements on behalf of the school that are pro-Israel. 

The Edina High School Walkout for Palestine group, which planned the walkout, stated in one of its posts,  “Those who remain silent inadvertently support this oppression. Not speaking up is giving the green light to the Zionist.”

On Wednesday, at least 100 students participated in the walkout. They held Palestinian flags, wore keffiyehs, and led chants. Students were invited to speak by the organizers, and it was made clear that all were welcome. However, Edina High School faculty did not share a similar sentiment. Instead of granting Muslim students and their allies space to exercise their freedom of speech, faculty wanted to take control of the narrative and actively silence students’ voices. Pro-Israel students even attacked and threw water bottles at people from a staircase during the event, but faculty has yet to take action.

Eyewitness accounts from the organizers reported that administrators claimed the students’ chant, “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” was antisemitic, and also claimed that “it’s not Palestine’s land.” These comments are a blatant erasure on Palestine’s history as a nation, but for school officials it was seen as the best method to disband the walkout and avoid negative media coverage.

However, faculty only continued to escalate the situation. At least two administrators began to record students while at the walkout, visibly making students uncomfortable. When asked to stop, administrators refused to comply. These videos were eventually posted by faculty themselves and were circulated by a conservative local Twitter account @CrimeWatchMpls.

As a result, students were quickly and unjustly labeled as “criminals,” and adults, including parents of students and Zionists, used derogatory and hateful language targeted at protesters attending, who were as young as 14. One Zionist user tweeted “May all who support Palestine get their just due…with lead.” Wishing for violent death for high school students because they are protesting in support of human rights and the end to war crimes that have been taking place in Gaza by the Israeli occupation for over 75 years is a disgrace, and not one that faculty should take lightly.

At the time of writing, three students from Edina High School are now facing suspension for simply participating in the walkout. However, the organizers and community of supporters around them will not accept this without a fight. EHS Walkout stated, “We have the right to freedom of speech and expression. Our objective was to facilitate a platform for open discourse on a pressing global matter, especially that pertaining to Palestine, all while refraining from engaging in hate speech or discriminatory behavior.”

They are calling on the community and any allies to the Palestinian struggle to participate in their ongoing call-in/email-in to top administrators at Edina High School to say that their disciplinary actions against the students are unjust, and that “From the river to the sea” and implications of Palestinians’ right to return to their homeland is not antisemitic.

Follow @ehswalkoutforpalestine on Instagram for more details and upcoming solidarity actions happening locally in the Twin Cities.

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