Baruch College anti-Israel protesters chant for Hillel to 'go to hell,' say 'All Zionists are terrorists'
Anti-Israel student protesters at Baruch College in New York City chanted anti-Israel slogans near a Jewish student center, including “Baruch Hillel, go to hell” and “All Zionists are terrorists.”
The Anti-Defamation League condemned the protest as anti-Semitic and urged the university’s president to denounce the rhetoric.
Anti-Israel students in New York City recently held a protest aimed at the Baruch College Hillel.
According to the Jewish Chronicle, students from several City University of New York (CUNY) schools held the protest at Baruch College in New York City on Sept. 3, chanting “Dogs off campus,” “Baruch Hillel, go to hell,” and “All Zionists are terrorists.”
The protesters demanded that Baruch College “cut ties with Hillel and boycott the Zionist entity,” as read an Instagram post shared by the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine.
Hillel at Baruch describes itself on its website as “the center of Jewish life at CUNY Baruch College,” serving “almost 2,000 Jewish students.”
Chants of “you’re from Brooklyn, not the Middle East” were also heard. Previously, protesters held a banner outside Baruch College that said “Bring the war home” in addition to a sign that read, “Let the intifada pave the way for people’s war.”
The Anti-Defamation League took to social media to condemn the anti-Semitic protest on Sept. 3.
“We are appalled by calls this afternoon on the @BaruchCollege campus to cut ties with @HillelIntl and to equate Zionists with terrorists and dogs,” ADL posted to X. “We call on President @DavidWuBaruch to condemn these outrageous statements.”
CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez said in a statement that the incident is being investigated.
“I was deeply disappointed to learn demonstrators disrupted a Hillel welcome dinner for students from CUNY and universities across the City, turning an event designed to help freshmen acclimate to college life into a disruptive hate-filled display that has no place in our city. We are investigating Tuesday night’s incident and will not hesitate to enforce CUNY disciplinary actions, as appropriate, if any of the demonstrators are members of the CUNY community. The safety of everyone in our community remains our top priority,” Rodríguez wrote.
Campus Reform reported in August that anti-Israel groups at the CUNY have committed to taking “action all week on every CUNY campus.”
A large group of anti-Israel groups across the CUNY system pledged to “take action all week on every CUNY campus.”
“Protest, fight back, and show them that we will not stand by while our people are murdered by CUNY‼” a student group called CUNY for Palestine urged.
”TAKE AUTONOMOUS ACTION ALL WEEK FOR GAZA‼” the group continued. “As the new school year begins at CUNY, we, the students, stand in solidarity and mourning for the thousands of students in Gaza who were murdered before they could start their own school year. But while we sit here and grieve, CUNY continues to fund and support the ongoing genocide.”
Campus Reform has additionally recently reported that the Baruch College chapter of the anti-Israel student group Students for Justice in Palestine recently advertised for students to join the group’s board with a post that contained images of rifles in the background.
Baruch’s SJP wrote that the group is “[v]ery excited for the fall semester!”
