Mayor: UNLV pro-Palestinian protesters ‘pieces of garbage’

The new mayor of Las Vegas slammed pro-Palestinian UNLV student protesters, calling them “pieces of garbage” Thursday at an event organized by a pro-Israel advocacy group.

Mayor Shelley Berkley, speaking at a Q&A session during a pre-Hanukkah event organized by the Israeli-American Council attended by about 70 people, blasted the pro-Palestinian protesters who demonstrated at UNLV earlier this year. She said they were so disruptive that she was forced to leave an event at the university. Berkley also called them antisemitic.

“UNLV is my alma mater. I was the student body president of UNLV,” said Berkley, who is Jewish and previously served as a university regent during the 1990s. “I had every right to be there, and there was no way I was walking out that back door because of these pieces of garbage.”

Berkley, who also served as a Democratic congresswoman for Nevada’s 1st District from 1999 until 2013, was elected mayor in November and was sworn into office Dec. 4. She was one of Israel’s strongest defenders in the Democratic Party when she served in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Remembering hostages

Attendees at Thursday’s event, which took place at The Space, a venue near West Flamingo Road and Dean Martin Drive, also commemorated the approximately 100 hostages who Israel says remain in Gaza.

During the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, Hamas terrorists and other groups killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 hostages, bringing them to Gaza. A previous truce in November 2023 freed more than 100 hostages, while others have been rescued or had their remains recovered over the past year. Officials believe at least a third of the remaining hostages were either killed during the Oct. 7 attack or died in captivity.

Amid the 14-month-long conflict, protests have erupted at U.S. college campuses, including at UNLV.

At Thursday’s event, a table with 100 lit candles honored the hostages, and attendees demanded that they be freed. A poster with the hostages’ photos was displayed nearby. Berkley lit a menorah for Hanukkah, which this year takes place from Wednesday until Jan. 2.

‘So incredibly antisemitic’

When moderator Hayim Mizrachi, CEO of local commercial real estate firm MDL Group, asked Berkley about the state of antisemitism in Las Vegas today, Berkley shared a story about when she addressed a student group, College Democrats of UNLV, during her campaign for mayor.

“I went to give a talk to this group, and it became very obvious very quickly that these are not the college Dems that I remember from 60 years ago. This is a whole different crop of people, obviously very pro-Palestinian, very disruptive and very angry,” said Berkley, 73. “And I, honest to God, can’t figure out why these privileged kids that are going to college and are all going to be successful in their lives are so hateful and so incredibly antisemitic.”

Berkley continued, stating that the interaction was not the first she had with pro-Palestinian advocates at the university. She said she saw multiple demonstrations break out throughout her campaign.

During her meeting with the student group, Berkley asked if the members had sympathy for the hostages taken. Berkley said the students responded no, calling the hostages oppressors.

“I am worried about the future of Israel. … But more importantly, it worried me about the future of this country. If you could have people that are educated and white — they were all white, all educated, all going to be college graduates — be so negative about the only democracy in the Middle East, America’s strongest ally in the world. They denigrate us and hate us, and the only reason is because it’s a Jewish state.”

‘Right to protest genocide’

In a Friday interview with the Review-Journal, the national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Edward Ahmed Mitchell, called Berkley’s comments “disturbing and disgusting.”

“It is deeply disturbing and disgusting that the mayor of Las Vegas would express such disdain for college students who have simply exercised their right to protest genocide,” Mitchell said. “These protests are no different than when she was in college, and students were protesting apartheid in South Africa, the war in Vietnam, and segregation. These students have hearts, and they care when they see videos of Palestine children dying.”

Mitchell also demanded that Berkley apologize to the students.

Efforts to reach the College Democrats of UNLV and UNLV’s Students for Justice in Palestine for comment were unsuccessful.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com