LOCAL STUDENTS HOLD RALLIES, VIGILS FOR BOTH ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS

By Miriam Raftery

October 12, 2023  (San Diego)—After the Hamas terror attacks in Israel in which more than 1,200 Israelis have died including children slaughtered,  Israel has retaliated with air strikes in Gaza,  urging residents to leave as Israeli forces shut off power, water and fuel until dozens of Israeli hostages are freed.  The crisis has sparked fear in local residents for family and friends in both Israel and Palestine.

This week,  students at local universities staged rallies and protests for people in both Israel and Palestine.

On Monday, hundreds marched in support of Israel at San Diego State University. 

“I wake up to my parents calling me…We have family and friends that have been kidnapped, and this is the worst thing they’ve seen in their whole lives,”  says Ori Lerer, 10 News reports. He is an ambassador for Hillel and president of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, which organized the march along with Students Supporting Israel.

Lerer says the situation is “beyond a conflict of land, beyond Israel or Palestine; this is a matter of humanity and war crimes.”

Others at the pro-Israel rally voiced fears for friends and loved ones in the Israeli military as well as civilians in areas where missile strikes and door-to-door killings of civilians have occurred by Hamas militants.

On Wednesday, Palestinian students held a vigil in support of Palestine at SDSU. One woman at the vigil, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said her family is trapped in Gaza, adding, “The whole country is getting demolished and there’s nothing they can do.”

Not all Palestinians support the violent actions of Hamas, just as not all Israelis support the actions of Prime Minister Netantyahu targeting Gaza in recent years. The historical roots of the current conflict date back decades. Israel was established by the United Nations in 1946 as a safe haven for Jews after the Holocaust. Some  Palestinians have sought a two-state solution to assure Palestinians a homeland, but Hamas, the designated terror organization currently controlling Palestine, has a stated goal of eliminating the nation  of Israel.

One woman at the SDSU Palestinian vigil told10 News, ”Of course we’re not for any lives lost, no matter what, Palestinian or Israeli.”

But some have taken more radical stances.  Students for Justice for Palestine posted a flyer on Instagram touting the SDSU vigil as an “Honor our Martyrs” event, an apparent reference to the Hamas militants killed.  The SJP chapter at the University of California, reposted a message from the Palestinian Youth Movement after attacks on Israelwhich reads,  “The resistance lives.”

The SJP nationally supports Hamas’ stated goal to eradicate Israel.

At Cal State Long Beach, the La Fuerza Student Association promoted a “Day of Resistance: Protest for Palestine” which featured a drawing of protester with a paraglider overhead, the aircraft used by Hamas terrorists to launch their deadly invasion of Israel. The image drew condemnations on social media, where one user called the image “sickening.” 

Another wrote, “How can a university student be so completely out of touch with the reality of Saturday’s slaughter?”