Protesters hold dueling Gaza rallies at University of Minnesota

Things got heated Friday during two opposing University of Minnesota rallies focused on the war in Gaza, a day after pro-Palestinian student groups finalized an agreement with U officials to end their encampment on Northrop Mall.

The afternoon began with about 150 people attending a pro-Israel rally outside of Coffman Memorial Union, hosted by the self-described Zionist group Students Supporting Israel, a nationwide campus organization. The crowd included a mix of students, rabbis, local Jewish residents and others, some waving half-and-half Israeli and American flags and others holding pictures of hostages taken by the terrorist group Hamas. Most of the crowd looked to be middle-aged or older.

As the pro-Israel group continued chanting, about a dozen pro-Palestinian counter-protesters, mostly U students, assembled on the other side holding Palestinian flags and a sign reading "We are witnessing a genocide in real time."

During the competing chants, one of the pro-Israel demonstrators holding a large sign began walking toward a pro-Palestinian student holding a megaphone, forcing her to back up. Some pro-Palestinian demonstrators intervened and shouted for the man with the sign to move back, before pro-Israel protesters stepped in to separate them.

Two U police officers showed up a short time later and positioned themselves between the groups to prevent further altercations.

U student Jonathan Greenspan, with Students Supporting Israel, said the group wanted to demonstrate Friday to show it's OK for Jews who support Israel or are Zionists to speak their opinions.

"We don't want to foster a campus where only one side can speak up, where people can be shunned, ostracized and attacked because of what they believe in and who they stand for," he said.

While the pro-Israel rally continued, about 200 people gathered a few hundred yards away for a news conference hosted by anti-Zionist Jewish students at the U, who spoke in support of the Palestinian cause.

The pro-Palestinian rally was a collaboration between student leaders and the Twin Cities chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. Speakers demanded that anti-Zionist Jewish students be included in conversations with university administrators, saying they have felt "silenced" this week, according to a news release.

The U is working on identifying a subset of Jewish students from the UMN Divest Coalition to arrange a meeting, according to a U spokesperson. "We welcome open, productive dialogue that advances a more inclusive university," according to a university statement.

Mirabai Dornfest, a U junior who is Jewish and stayed at the encampment, said there's a false narrative that being Jewish means one is opposed to the pro-Palestinian protests. Dornfest compared the two demonstrations and said she thought they revealed an age gap in how many Jewish people are responding to the war in Gaza.

"We take to heart the lessons we learn from our families' histories with genocide, lessons we learn in universities, and we will take the lessons we've learned into the future," she said.