COLUMBIA IN CRISIS: Anti-Israel encampment overtakes campus lawn, in-person classes canceled, admin agrees to meet with protesters
Anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University continue to operate an 'encampment' on campus days after 100 students were arrested, and in one instance praised Hamas and called for the terrorist organization to 'strike' Tel Aviv.
Anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University continue to operate an ‘encampment’ on campus days after 100 students were arrested, and in one instance praised Hamas and called for the terrorist organization to “strike” Tel Aviv.
The protest was organized by Students for Justice in Palestine at Columbia, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, and several others. They began a tent encampment on the Columbia lawn on Wednesday just before university leadership testified at a Congressional hearing on anti-Semitism.
Police arrested over 100 people on Thursday for alleged trespassing and Columbia issued suspensions, as Campus Reform reported.
Protests over the weekend ramped up, and in one instance, Jewish students walking by the protest were yelled at and told to “Go back to Europe” and “go back to Poland.”
”You have no culture” and “All you do is colonize,” were yelled by protesters.
In one instance, protesters yelled in Arabic “Oh Hamas, oh loved one, hit/strike Tel Aviv,” video on social media showed.
The level of gaslighting we’re seeing from this NBC & MSNBC journalist about Columbia is unbelievable.
There are literally hundreds of videos showing harassment and threats against Jewish students. Here are just a few https://t.co/TPaYcPe0K1 pic.twitter.com/GwJWIgJG8I— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) April 22, 2024
In another video posted to X, the protesters could be heard yelling “We have Zionists who have entered the camp.”
”We are going to create a human chain..so that they do not pass this point and infringe upon our privacy and try to disrupt our community,” the protesters shouted.
”We are going to slowly walk and take a step froward so that we can start to push them out of the camp,” they shouted.
“We have Zionists who have entered the camp” — Columbia students eject Jews from the quad pic.twitter.com/rdNjbR5zxx
— Luke Tress (@luketress) April 22, 2024
One protester at Columbia held a sign reading “Al-Qasam’s next targets” with an arrow pointing to a group of individuals holding American flags.
Someone sent me this from Columbia tonight. Some Jewish students were holding Israeli and American flags so this girl stood in front of them with the below sign.
Al-Qasam is the Hamas military wing.
They are openly pro-Hamas and threatening fellow students. pic.twitter.com/Eo5BaA7h70— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 21, 2024
In a statement on Monday, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik said that all classes will be held virtually on Monday, adding that university administrators will be meeting with the protesters.
”During the coming days, a working group of Deans, university administrators and faculty members will try to bring this crisis to a resolution. That includes continuing discussions with the student protestors and identifying actions we can take as a community to enable us to peacefully complete the term and return to respectful engagement with each other,” said Shafik. “Over the past days, there have been too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus. Antisemitic language, like any other language that is used to hurt and frighten people, is unacceptable and appropriate action will be taken.”
