Honoring the past and defending the future was how organizers described a pro-Israel rally at Riverside Park Monday night.

People held Israeli flags responding to the recent protests on college campuses.

Talia Pierson, 15, said she is concerned about antisemitism at universities as she starts her looking for colleges.

“I’m going to be on college campuses soon. It’s very scary,” Pierson said.

The rally was in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, but Columbia University was a focus in the line-up of speakers.

“Today, in years past, we gather here to remember the victims of the Holocaust and promise to remain vigilant and stand against anti-Jewish hatred wherever it rears its head around the world,” Benji Hadar, a Columbia student, said.

Columbia announced Monday it would cancel its usual university-wide commencement and hold individual ceremonies for different its schools.

Administrators cited security concerns as the reason behind the decision.

The decision comes after hundreds of people were arrested at Columbia and other colleges around the city last week.

Hadar made parallels between the protests on his campus and the Holocaust.

“Yes, in 1930s Nazi Germany, student groups began to remove Jewish students and professors from campuses in their campaign of hatred. They were successful. In 2024, myself and other Jewish students find ourselves confronting a new campaign of anti-Jewish hatred,” Hadar said.

A strong show of support for not only Holocaust victims and students at Columbia - but all victims after Oct. 7, the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

“I also hold a prayer for peace in Israel for Israelis and Palestinians and a special prayer for our hostages who must come home,” Hadar said.

School-specific ceremonies will be held at Columbia from Friday through May 16.

Organizers at the rally say they stand with Jewish students at Columbia and the challenges they may face feeling safe on campus.