WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — Jewish students at Wake Forest University say allowing a speaker known for antisemitic rhetoric to speak on campus is a gut punch. Especially since it’s scheduled for Oct. 7, exactly a year after Hamas, a terrorist organization launched an attack on Israel killing nearly 12 hundred people and kidnapping hundreds of others. The speaker, Rabab Abdulhadi, is a professor at San Francisco State University. Students at Wake Forest say the speech should be canceled. “We support free speech, we encourage the university to host people with a variety of different viewpoints, to share different perspectives, encourage and foster dialogue on our campus. However about a week ago they put up posters for this event with antisemitic and pro-terrorist language,” said Isabelle Laxer, president of the WFU Chabad student organization. Laxer and four other Jewish Wake Forest University students came together to advocate against Abdulhadi coming to campus to speak after seeing this poster: It reads: “The Al-Aqsa flood — reflections on a year of genocide and resistance.”  “The al-aqsa flood is the terminology uses to refer to the attacks on the nova festival on oct. 7th,” said Andrew Orfaly, student president of Wake Forest Hillel. Orfaly, the student president of Wake Forest’s Hillel group, says using that language would be similar to using Al-Qaeda’s term for the attacks on 9/11. “It’s incredibly disheartening to see this happening on a day that saw the greatest loss of Jewish life since the holocaust,” said Laxer. The students created a petition that garnered more than 4,000 signatures in its first 24 hours, lobbying the university and the departments listed on the poster to rescind their invitation to Abdulhadi. Among their concerns, Abdulhabi hosted a digital event with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 2019, considered by the United States to be a terrorist organization. “It’s like a gut punch honestly to host a speaker known for hate speech,” said Laxer. A Wake Forest University spokesperson said no one with the university was available to address questions about the choice to host Abdulhadi, providing this statement that said in part: “Students can engage with a wide range of ideas, including those they support and those they oppose.” They also said in a follow-up that discussions are ongoing with organizers and those opposed. We also emailed the chairs of all departments listed on the flyer and did not get a response, nor did we hear back from Abdulhadi. The students, reflecting on the events of Oct. 7 hope organizers do not go through with the speech. “Hate speech is hate speech whether or not it’s Oct. 7, 8 or 9 to 10. Obviously I think the date adds insult to injury but I think holding a speaker like this at all on Wake Forest campus is upsetting and should not be allowed,” said Laxer. Approximately 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict since Oct. 7 as the two sides battle in the ongoing war. When asked how the day should be observed, the students said Oct. 7 is a solemn occasion and private vigils will be held on campus.