Hundreds of community members attended a rally and march in downtown San Luis Obispo on Saturday, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Ashraf Tubeileh, a Palestinian activist was born and raised in Palestine and says he still has immediate family in that area.
“Any second you may get a phone call that your cousin or sibling has been killed by an Israeli air strike,” Tubeileh said.
Tubeileh said the purpose of the rally was to raise awareness about what's going on in the Middle East.
“[And] to ask for the Palestinian state to be created according to the partition plan back in 1947 and ask for the genocide that has been going on since 1947 actually to stop,” Tubeileh said.
Tubeileh has been going to rallies for the past seven months and encouraged others to get involved.
“Call your politicians and call your elected officials and make sure to raise your voices in support of the Palestinian people and support of human rights,” Tubeileh said.
Meanwhile, Nachshon Margalit, co-president of the Jewish Community Center, said it is a scary time for Jewish people to wear their identity on their sleeves.
Margalit is a member of the local Jewish community and has immediate family still living in Israel.
“I have other family members that live 10 to 12 kilometers away from the border where Hezbollah is still firing rockets into Israel and these people have to stay in their bomb shelters regularly,” Margalit said.
He said he feels he has to be on guard after noticing an increase in antisemitism.
“We've seen vandalism against Jewish-related things because people don't think Israel has a right to exist. When we have held Jewish events there seems to be a large crowd of Palestinian protesters who show up and don't make it comfortable,” Margalit said.
Margalit says he thinks everyone has a right to exercise the First Amendment in a peaceful way.
“We are very much pro-Palestine, pro-humanitarian but we are also pro-Israel and want to figure out a way to live in peace,” Margalit said.
The Palestine Solidarity Alliance of the Central Coast held a rally in San Luis Obispo's Mitchell Park on Wednesday, May 15 to mark Nakba Day:
