UCLA student says many campus counter-protesters were locals, not students: 'Jews in LA have had enough'
Jews in Los Angeles have "had enough" and are taking matters into their own hands as anti-Israel protests continue to wreak havoc on college campuses, a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) student told Fox News Wednesday.
"The reason why this is happening is because Jews in L.A. have had enough. They've seen how these pro-Hamas protesters are treating Jewish students on campus, and they said, 'Fine, if the UCLA administration is not going to do anything, if LAPD is not going to do anything, we're going to do something about it,'" Eli Tsives said while appearing on "Fox & Friends."
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Counter-protesters attempted to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus late Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning. Fights broke out, fireworks exploded and projectiles were thrown until law enforcement eventually arrived.
Tsives, who had previously spoken to "Fox & Friends" after being blocked from attending class by anti-Israel protesters, "confidently" insisted the counter-protesters were locals from the community rather than UCLA students.
"The average age of those people was around, 26 [through] 29. They were all a lot older and, they were just, L.A. residents, Jewish L.A. residents that have noticed how these pro-Hamas protesters are treating Jewish students at UCLA, and they said, ‘Enough is enough.’"
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Tsives said he had the opportunity to speak to some of the counter-protesters to hear what motivated them to arrive at the scene.
"They said the main reason they were doing this was to attract police," he said. "They said they wanted L.A. police to arrive, so they could finally go inside the encampment and start making arrests."
Tsives insists he is an advocate for peace and doesn't wish to engage with the mob himself. He even told other Jewish students to stay away from the site of chaos, assuring them that violence is not the answer.
Fox News' Landon Mion contributed to this report.