Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Georgetown Radio (WGTB) co-hosted a benefit concert and Palestine solidarity event in Bulldog Alley on Feb. 23. The event, which included live music from seven student bands and artists, raised about $1,500 in ticket and merch sales for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF).
PCRF is currently running a campaign for urgent relief in Gaza, where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed more than 48,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 109,000 since October 2023. The money raised will go toward food, water, medical supplies, and long-term recovery efforts.
The participating artists and bands in the Sunday concert were Dimitri & Brigid, The Ordeal, Araujia, Lucia Zambetti (CAS ’26), Home Remedies, Red Sunflower, and That Girl Band; all of the bands are composed of current Georgetown students.
Isabella Sicilian (CAS ’26), one of the general managers of WGTB, said that the organization, which collaborated with SJP for the first time to host the event, was simply hoping to do some good.
“We here have so much privilege, just in that we’re not in a war zone, and I think that, if we have the opportunity to help someone out, we should. That’s my life philosophy right now,” Sicilian told the Voice.
She added that the concert came together fairly quickly, particularly because of the musicians’ willingness to play for free.
“Usually you need a little bit longer to plan a concert, just because it can get complicated with hiring different services, but everyone has been super helpful,” she said. “We really didn’t know if anybody was going to play because we couldn’t offer any money, so it was really awesome that everyone agreed.”
Lukas Soloman (SFS ’26), president of SJP, said that the concert provided an opportunity to reach a broader swath of students who may want to get involved with the cause, while also providing a space for performers that is conscious of the current moment.
“This is an incredible opportunity to reach students SJP has maybe not reached before, and to build connections and solidarity across different sectors of the campus community, to really embrace what it means to be a Georgetown student,” Soloman said.
He added that the concert was an example of how students were continuing to speak out in solidarity with Palestine.
“Our hearts and our voices and our actions are devoted to solidarity with the Palestinian people and with the Palestinian liberation cause,” Soloman said.
Since Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the IDF has escalated its attacks on Palestine, destroying large parts of Gaza and displacing around 90% of Gaza’s population. In November 2024, a UN Special Committee stated that the IDF’s tactics have been “consistent with characteristics of genocide,” specifying the interference with and destruction of food, water, and aid.
The attacks in the last year and a half are a continuation of a conflict that has been ongoing since before 1947, when the UN passed the Partition Plan that led to the establishment of the state of Israel.
“Even as this university is investing in settler colonialism and genocide, the student body has really raised their voices and said with our words and our actions that we refuse to be complicit,” he added.
Georgetown currently invests more than $28.4 million of its endowment into Google and Amazon, both of which develop technology for the Israeli military. This includes Project Nimbus, a system that allows for the surveillance of the Palestinian people.
Sicilian said that WGTB has a long history of talking about politics and that the benefit concert aligned with that value.
“WGTB has always been super vocal about our politics. We got kicked off the air for being anti-Vietnam War, so there’s just a really long, radical tradition in Georgetown Radio of being a student voice. That’s something that is really important to us,” she said.
Marin Lissy (CAS ’27) is a singer and guitarist for the rock group That Girl Band, which performed on Sunday. That Girl Band first began playing this past fall and is signed with Prospect Records. Lissy said that politics and art are often connected, with music providing a forum for discussing pertinent issues.
“Across so many genres, particularly punk rock, people are able to express themselves and say the things that are playing heavy on their hearts, that they need to say and share,” Lissy said. “That’s one of the beautiful things about music as a creative exercise. It’s like a political act in many ways.”
Lissy added that the musicians’ ability to play at the concert was itself a privilege—a sentiment that many of the artists echoed in their pre-performance introductions.
“We’re humbled by our ability to be up on the stage, because that’s not something that everyone in the world has a chance to do,” Lissy told the Voice. As Georgetown students, we get to come here and rock out and enjoy this, but there are also more salient issues going on at the same time.”
After the student performances had concluded, Fuad Foty, a local Palestinian musician, performed on the oud, a Middle Eastern string instrument. Foty taught attendees lyrics in Arabic and encouraged them to sing along during parts of his songs. He said that, by singing about Palestine, he hopes to strengthen solidarity with the Palestinian people.
A theme throughout the concert was that art and resistance often enhance each other, with music acting as a call to action.
“Art is an incredible vehicle for advancing social justice causes. It’s not everything—art itself is not liberation, not inherently resistance—but it can be used to bring people into spaces that are organizing and mobilizing for justice,” Soloman said. “There is space for Palestine solidarity in literally anything if you’re up to it.”
