May 3, 1:57 p.m.
The Daily Illini spoke with Christopher Svochak, the man who spoke into a megaphone on the Main Quad at 12:50 p.m. Svochak was not affiliated with the encampment, and the encampment members were instructed not to interact with him.
**This interview has been edited for length and clarity.**
DI: What is your reason for being here today?
Svochak: Well, I’m here to speak the message of Jesus Christ first. I know there’s a lot of Muslims, Palestinians and Hamas supporters here, so I’m here to preach the message from Jesus Christ to them and everybody else too. I’ve seen people that are homosexual here. I’m preaching to that perspective too. Jesus wants to save all those people and transform them from lies into truth.
DI: Have you studied these situations at all?
Svochak: Yeah, absolutely. I actually went to Michigan last week, and over there it’s way bigger than this, so I know what’s going on very in detail. I know the history of this, all the war and everything. I’ve studied it.
DI: Were you invited to speak at this encampment?
Svochak: No, I wasn’t invited, but neither were the people who put their tents up. So that’s one of the reasons I came here. I can freely speak here and they can too; that’s fine. But they’ve done something illegal by putting up structures. We all know on Friday (the police) evicted them and there were arrests and everything else.
DI: Do you agree with what is going on here?
Svochak: I don’t agree with a lot of the ways things are being done. I think that there’s a lot of people here believing lies who aren’t being encouraged to challenge what they’ve been told is true. I’ve gone around, and I’ve talked to some people here, but most of the people I’ve been able to talk to are from outside the encampment, because the encampment organizers, even on their Telegram, are being told not to engage with the police and with other counterprotesters. That’s what it says on their Telegram chat.
DI: Can you tell me anything specific on what the protesters believe is true that you disagree with?
Svochak: Well, they’re being specifically told to say that there have been over 40,000 children and women who lost their lives in Gaza on the Palestinian side. That’s their primary issue. Palestine should be free from Israeli oppression is what they’re saying. What they don’t understand is Hamas is using those people as an elaborate ruse and scheme, just like Hitler used the Nazis. They’re doing the exact same thing and lying to them, telling them not to have their truth challenged like I’m trying to challenge. If somebody can’t speak against the truth, why is that? That’s why I’m here. I know that they’re probably not going to talk to me if they have their leaders going around saying “Don’t talk to them, don’t talk to them, don’t talk to them,” because they don’t want to have their lies challenged.
You know, if lies are challenged, they get exposed, and the Bible even talks about that. People don’t come to the light because their deeds are gonna be exposed. They’re just so doused in their lies. They’re trying to cling on to anybody who will believe them and justify it. I think some of them know it’s a lie, but I’m here to expose that and to tell people the truth so that Jesus can set them free — not just from that, but from their own personal lies and deceit. Jesus can set people free, and that’s why I’m here. I’m sure some people here have heard some of those counterarguments from being in America, but I’m here to say it even louder from a Christian perspective.
**According to ABC News on May 3, “The death toll in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials, and the territory’s entire population has been driven into a humanitarian catastrophe.”**
DI: So you’ve spoken with Palestinian supporters right now?
Svochak: Yes.
DI: Have you spoken with Israeli supporters?
Svochak: Yeah. I know people. More people than just myself. I know personally people that are not from Palestine, but from different parts of the world in the Muslim faith. I don’t know people that have lived in Israel, but I have some personal Jewish ethnicity contacts. Some of the Jewish faith, some not.
