Community gathers to support Las Vegas-area students amid protests

Kamari Esquerra
·1 min read
24

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Local activists and community members gathered Sunday to support Jewish students on Las Vegas-area campuses.

The Las Vegas chapter of the Israeli American Council (IAC) held a protest Sunday in response to what they say are ongoing anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations happening around the country. The rally, called “Honoring the Past, Defending the Future,” also marked Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“It reminds you that it can happen again,” said Marjorie Shapiro, a member of IAC and Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. “Jewish students can’t get onto college campuses. That’s what happened in Vienna in 1938. How is history repeating itself?”

Rally participants say protests happening around the country have turned violent, with Jewish students being harassed and terrorized on campus.

“It’s getting really concerning – the antisemitism, the violence, the oppression of civil rights of Jewish students and Jewish people is very concerning,” said Dan Laird, a protest participant who identified himself as Catholic. “I think Christians and other groups need to speak up.”

They fear that on the eve of the Holocaust Remembrance Day, the nationwide demonstrations could be history repeating itself.

“We always said never again, and what’s going on in the world, it’s happening all over again, and you see the riots going on these college campuses and the uninformed,” said Shapiro.

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