On Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, Binghamton University’s Zionist Organization (BUZO) created a Display of Remembrance on the Peace Quad.

The organization planted 1,200 flags to represent the Israelis killed during the Oct. 7 attack. In observance of the day, organizers said they wanted to establish a memorial to remember lives lost in the past and present. Saul Hakim, BUZO’s outgoing president and a junior double-majoring in political science and Judaic studies, said Oct. 7 saw the most Jewish people killed in one day since the Holocaust.

“We lost 1,200 people on that day — innocent people who were lost to terror,” Hakim said. “We wanted to combine the two days of remembering the Holocaust — our past and our history — but then also acknowledging that it’s still a challenge that we face today, and as a community we will remember all the people we lost then and now. We are going to continue to honor them in any way possible.”

Organizers said they received permission from the University to create the memorial, which will be taken down by the morning of May 7 for the Senior Sendoff.

The Display of Remembrance was planned in conjunction with the Israel Unity Rally held last Thursday, which emphasized the importance of combatting antisemitism on campus and expressed solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas. The rally was followed by a BBQ hosted by the Orthodox Union-Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus.

“We wanted to connect the idea of us standing for Israel, standing for our beliefs and showing that we’re not afraid,” Hakim said, sharing the link between the rally and the display.

The rally was held during the second day of the Peace Quad encampment organized by the Divest from Death coalition, which was disassembled before 5 p.m. last Friday.

“It’s important to show why Israel is so important and to show basically our side,” said Ezra Fischer, BUZO’s incoming cultural chair and a sophomore majoring in economics. “There has been a lot about the encampment, and I feel that we need to show, in a peaceful manner, why we are here.”

The memorial is the latest event organized by BUZO, an organization created to “make known and promote the ideals of the Zionist movement.” Last month, BUZO created a petition against implementing Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions on campus and in February, they led a show of solidarity with Omer Neutra, an accepted student taken hostage in October.

Hakim said they chose to put the memorial on the Peace Quad partly because of the encampment’s presence there.

“It’s important that all of us want peace,” Hakim said. “All of us want an end to the bloodshed, but it can’t be done without remembering all the innocent people who were killed and the hostages that still remain in captivity.”