Southern California students, Jewish organizations mark anniversary of Oct. 7 attack and ongoing war

Through lively protests, community vigils and solemn ceremonies — college students, Jewish and Muslim organizations across Southern California are marking the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Officials say the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas assault killed more than 1,000 Israelis and took some 250 people hostage. More than 100 hostages remain in war-torn Gaza. Over the past year, strikes from the Israel Defense Forces have killed thousands of Palestinians, officials said, with seemingly no end in sight to the longstanding conflict.

On Monday, Pro-Palestine protests and related events were happening or planned at universities including USC, UC Irvine, UCLA, Cal State Long Beach, UC Riverside and Pomona College.

An anti-war gathering was set for Monday evening downtown Los Angeles’ Gloria Molina Grand Park, where officials said “hundreds of American Jews” will honor the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attacks, intending to remind people that “violence is antithetical to Jewish values and that it will never keep any of us safe.”

“On October 7, in the midst of the Days of Awe, Jews across the country will come together in community, in heartbreak, and in grief. We will mourn Israeli life, but we know that we cannot only mourn Israeli life,” organizers from IfNotNowLA stated. “Our tears are abundant enough, and our hearts are big enough, to grieve for every life taken – every universe destroyed – whether Israeli or Palestinian.”

Solemn Jewish community vigils and memorials for the hostages were planned Monday evening including at UC Riverside, Irvine’s Merage Jewish Community Center and Los Angeles on Monday evening.

The events were a stark reminder of an ongoing war that many, on both sides, say they want to see end.

‘Until they all come home’

In Beverly Hills, community leaders gathered Monday morning before dawn to mark the one-year anniversary, holding a solemn memorial at Beverly Gardens Park on Santa Monica Boulevard. Roughly 1,200 flags were on display — one for each person who died in the attack — in the park since January. During the service, officials also unveiled signs designating the area “October 7th Memorial Square.”

“Beverly Hills is much more than what some may perceive as glitz, glamour and luxury,” said the city’s Vice Mayor, Sharona R. Nazarian.  “Our community stands in solidarity and we will not allow terror or hate to manipulate us.”

Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz toured the Nova Music Festival Exhibition in neighboring Culver City on Monday.

He stated that he had met with families whose loved ones are still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

“I offered them my wholehearted support as Vice President Harris and President Biden continue doing everything possible to secure the release of all hostages, including the remains of those who have been tragically confirmed to be deceased,” Walz stated. “It’s time for a hostage deal and ceasefire that ensures Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination.”

The Jewish Federation Los Angeles (JFEDLA) unveiled an “L.A. Remembers 10/7” wall installation at its Wilshire Boulevard headquarters, featuring a giant yellow ribbon covering the side of the building.

JFEDLA, in partnership with the Israeli American Council, StandWithUs and other Jewish groups, is set to host an “L.A. Remembers 10/7” event at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills on Monday night, which organizers said is billed as a way to “remember victims and honor the resilience of survivors.” Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the event will be live-streamed.

The ceremony will include Jewish community leaders and officials to honor survivors and stand in solidarity with hostages. Among those expected to attend Monday’s ceremony are actress Mayim Bialik, Israeli actress Moran Atias, Israeli performer Raviv Kaner, and over 30 elected officials including Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.

“Coming together to commemorate October 7th offers all of us an opportunity to gather strength as we share a sense of community that supports Israel and fights to keep the faces of the hostages front and center in everyone’s hearts until they all come home to their families,” said Roz Rothstein, founder and CEO of StandWithUs, in a statement.

On Monday night, the Stephen Wise Temple in West L.A. is also hosting a “Night of Remembrance” memorial service to honor hostages and commemorate the attack.

Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback called it a “mitzvah — a religious obligation — to remember and bear witness … and continue to raise our voices.”

The Merage Jewish Community Center in Irvine will also host Oct. 7 memorial ceremonies with dance, songs and reflections to commemorate victims, survivors and hostages on Monday night, said spokesperson Char Williams-Cavitt.

“It is a reminder that even in the face of devastating violence, the community remains strong and united. This gathering serves as a powerful statement of resilience and resistance against those who seek to spread hatred and fear,” Williams-Cavitt said. “This is not just a time for remembrance but also a reminder of the resilience within the Jewish community.”

“This is a humanitarian cause”

At USC, at least 100 students and some faculty walked out of classes in support of a free Palestine outside the campus gates at Trousdale Parkway and West Jefferson Blvd. on Monday, waving flags, wearing masks and keffiyeh scarves, and holding signs that called for a ceasefire. As the students temporarily blocked street traffic, USC safety officers blocked off multiple gates entering campus, restricting the students from going inside.

“We walked out to come together to mark one year since the brave people of Gaza refused to die quietly in the largest open-air prison on the planet, and broke through the apartheid wall that continues to surrender, surround and suffocate the people of Gaza,” said one speaker from USC’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which helped organize the protest. They criticized officials for “militarizing” further as an “attempt to suppress our movement.“

In a statement on Instagram, the students demanded their school to disclose its endowments and “divest from Israel, U.S. colonialism, apartheid and violence.”

At USC today where students are participating in a pro Palestine walkout to commemorate what they call “one year of genocide.”

There are at least 50 people gathered so far. USC gates are being monitored with security, students are being checked in on campus through barcode. pic.twitter.com/lhHno7B6Xf

— Victoria Ivie (@vwritesap) October 7, 2024

Another student, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said she felt that officials locking down the campus and the amount of security alerts was “annoying and over the top.”

“I don’t think there needs to be this much police presence over this — they’re just walking,” the USC sophomore said. “Why can’t we go to class? I don’t understand. Obviously, it (the protests) was an ongoing issue last year but they could just let us in one by one.”

In response to growing protests, University of California President Michael Drake in August redoubled the 10-campus system’s commitment to “nurture free expression.” But Drake also sent a strong message that unlawful protests will not be tolerated, and anti-camping policies will be enforced.

UCLA — the scene of several high-profile encampments and counter-protests, some violent, last school year — was also set to hold an event Monday afternoon during a “Week of Rage,” which pro-Palestinian organizers said will “honor one year of resistance and the martyrs … who will haunt you until we end our universities’ support of their slaughter.”

At UC Irvine, where 47 protestors were arrested after a protest and barricade of a campus building last school year, several dozen student protestors rallied in front of the administration hall on Monday. They waved Palestine, Yemeni and Lebanese flags, and calling for the university to divest from Israel.

Sarah Khalil, a fourth-year undergrad and spokesperson for the UCI chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, said that momentum “has picked up from the last quarter.”

“People are angrier now that it’s not just Palestine being bombed,” Khalil said. “This is a humanitarian cause — it’s also against colonialism. It’s about ending this colonial state.”

At Pomona College in Claremont, which also saw sit-ins and arrests during the previous school year, close to 40 people, mainly from the student-led Pomona Divestment from Apartheid, walked out of classes early Monday and temporarily blocked the entrance to Carnegie Hall. They wore masks, chanted for a “free Palestine,” and supported divestment from Israeli interests, “anti-discrimination policies protecting Muslim and Palestinian students,” and “a cultural boycott of Israel.”

Protesters were holding “Gaza teach-ins” inside the building, which organizers say they renamed “Refaat Alareer Peoples University,” in honor of a Palestinian professor, poet and writer killed in an Israeli air strike. An estimated 50 to 100 people were inside Carnegie Hall, which was decorated with Palestinian poems and a banner, and left before 4 p.m.

The Pomona College protesters, many of whom didn’t want to be identified because of fear of retribution, said administrators sent a campus-wide email telling them they were in violation of the college’s free speech policy. Since the campus protests began last year, protesters say the school has retroactively changed its policies to try and deter activity.

“I think this is a pattern of Pomona College,” one demonstrator said. “They are essentially afraid of their own students and will do anything to suppress our voices.”

Another participant said that Monday’s demonstration was to “reclaim an aspect that the university loves to market — Carnegie Hall — to call for the college to adhere to (our) demands.” Pomona College, they added, “was one of the first to have student demonstrations, and where the administration responded in retaliation by arresting students. It’s clear that the administration is invested in shutting down dissent… but students see it clearly, and have been fighting since Oct. 7, and even before that, calling for colleges to divest endowments and adhere to academic boycotts.”

At Cal State Long Beach, around 50 students attended a brief anniversary vigil on campus Monday afternoon, in between classes. The event was one of several throughout the SJP-sponsored “Week of Rage,” meant to educate and “foster collective healing,” organizers said.

Students put up posters, flowers and Palestinian flags on a tree in the upper quad, surrounded by victims photos. Many wore keffiyehs and sat in silence and solemn prayer. A number of faculty also showed their support.

“I think it’s very important to have this area for students so they can feel free to express themselves, especially students from Palestine who transferred here or have families over there,” said organizer Sonya Curiel, who is also a part of the La FUERZA Student Association. “It hurts to see people only talk about one side. Yes their families are affected too, but what about (Palestinian families)? They also need a place where they know people are in support of them and feel safe.”

“We try to do our best to put pressure on the people in power,” Curiel said. “So we’re putting on a vigil to show that we’re not going to go away and we’re still going to support (Palestinians) no matter what, and there’s no point in trying to stop us.”

Strict rules at the 23-campus California State University were issued just before the fall semester began, including a banning of encampments, barriers and face masks.

On Oct. 3, CSULB President Jane Close Conoley sent a message to the campus community addressing the tensions on both sides of the conflict, especially at schools.

“What if we stopped name-calling and started listening?” Conoley wrote. “The pain felt by families who have lost children transcends national boundaries. The agony of displacement and pervasive terror is not particular to one faith or ethnicity. As humans, we are all more alike than different, but we often seem to magnify differences rather than promote a shared humanity.”

In a tweet Monday, L.A. Mayor Bass said she attended the Nova exhibit in Culver City and called for an end to the violence.

“As conflict rises in the Middle East, we often see a troubling rise in antisemitism around the world, including here in L.A. So let me be unequivocally clear — antisemitism has absolutely no place in L.A.”

Other pro-Israel and pro-Palestine community events were also planned for this week in cities and schools including Pasadena, Riverside, Burbank, Echo Park, and at Cal State L.A.

Staff reporters Victoria Ivie, Andrea Klick, Jonathan Horwitz, Christina Merino, Anjali Paul, Linh Tat, Hanna Kang, Allyson Vergara and City News Service contributed to this report.