Anti-Israel activists kick off new school year vandalizing Cornell buildings
Anti-Israel protesters vandalized the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York on Aug. 26.
The protesters reportedly broke windows and wrote anti-Semitic slogans, such as 'Blood is on your hands' and 'Israel bombs, Cornell pays,' in several different buildings.
The anti-Israel protests that swept America’s college campus during the previous academic year are starting up again, including at the nation’s most prestigious universities.
Anti-Israel protesters vandalized the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York on Aug. 26. The protesters reportedly broke windows and wrote anti-Semitic slogans, such as “Blood is on your hands” and “Israel bombs, Cornell pays,” in several different buildings.
In a statement to The Cornell Daily Sun, the protesters, who wished to remain anonymous, said that they believed criminal action was a justified response to Cornell’s “fascist” and “classist” behavior.
“We had to accept that the only way to make ourselves heard is by targeting the only thing the university administration truly cares about: property,” the activists said. “With the start of this new academic year, the Cornell administration is trying desperately to upkeep a facade of normalcy knowing that, since last semester, they have been working tirelessly to uphold Cornell’s function as a fascist, classist, imperial machine.”
William A. Jacobson, a professor at Cornell law, expressed disappointment with the university’s response to anti-Israel demonstrations last year, noting that the seemingly weak response may be partly to blame for the continued protests.
“Given the weak response at Cornell last academic year to intimidation tactics by anti-Israel activists, it is no surprise that they have upped the aggressiveness by opening the semester with vandalism and destruction of property,” he said, according to The New York Post. “This is a bad omen.”
“Cornell has refused to come to grips with a toxic situation of its own making - the racialization of the campus under a DEI initiative post George Floyd, which has balkanized students into identity groups, with Jewish students and Israel being falsely portrayed as white colonizers,” he told Campus Reform. “In such an atmosphere, aggressive protests ‘by any means necessary’ have flourished with only tepid administrative concern for the vast majority of students who simply want to get an education.”
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The protests come in the wake of former university president Martha Pollack’s resignation. Pollack previously denied a student-led effort to divert Cornell’s investments away from companies tied to Israel.
Vice president for university relations Joel Malina expressed disapproval of the vandals, stating that the school would not tolerate such behavior.
“We are appalled by the graffiti spray painted, and glass shattered overnight along the front entrance of Day Hall,” Malina said, according to The New York Post. “Acts of violence, extended occupation of buildings, or property damage (including graffiti) will not be tolerated and will prompt an immediate response from public safety.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Cornell University and William Jacobson for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.