Columbia students who hosted event featuring terror-linked group refuse to comply with investigation: Report
The Columbia University student group that hosted an event with an Israeli-designated terror organization, which Germany has also banned, isn't cooperating with the school's investigation.
The Columbia University student group that hosted an event with an Israeli-designated terror organization, which Germany has also banned, isn’t cooperating with the school’s investigation.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest and Within Our Lifetime hosted the virtual event titled “Resistance 101,” on March 24 with Samidoun, a Palestinian advocacy group. Faculty for Justice in Palestine also promoted the event, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Samidoun is a group that “seeks to achieve justice for Palestinian prisoners through events, activities, resources, delegations, research and information-sharing, as well as building bridges with the prisoners’ movement in Palestine,” according to NGO Monitor.
NGO Monitor also states that the Israeli Ministry of Defense designated Samidoun as a terrorist organization and “a subsidiary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)” in February 2021.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Columbia University Apartheid Divest sent a letter to supporters on Wednesday night stating that administrators ”have been sending out threatening emails in order to intimidate student groups” regarding the “Resistance 101” event.
The group said that the emails are a “fear tactic that Columbia administrators have been using all year to suppress those of us involved in the student movement for Palestine,” telling students to ignore it.
”We do not recommend responding to the email, as it does not seem disciplinary in nature—there are no specific charges or follow up action items listed,” Columbia University Apartheid Divest wrote in the email. “If you, as a student group member, have received a personal email about a follow-up conversation … Do not respond to the University’s email. Do not communicate any sensitive information over email.”
A spokesperson for Columbia told the outlet that the university will sanction students who don’t cooperate with the investigation.
”The University is instituting disciplinary action against those who do not cooperate with the investigation,” the Columbia spokesperson said.
The German government announced on Nov. 2, 2023, that Samidoun is banned from “all activity” in the European country, stating that the group celebrated the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack in Israel.
”With its spontaneous ‘celebrations’ here in Germany following the horrific terrorist attacks by HAMAS in Israel, Samidoun revealed its antisemitism and absolute lack of regard for human life in an especially abhorrent way,” Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser said.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Samidoun leader Khaled Barakat talked to attendees at Columbia about his “friends in Islamic Jihad.”
Barakat’s wife, Charlotte Kates, also participated in the event, discussing her support for Hamas.
“Hamas is a mass Palestinian movement that is in a leadership role right now, and there is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas, being a leader of Hamas, being a fighter in Hamas,” Kates said. “The action that the Palestinian resistance took on the seventh of October was an earth-shattering undertaking.”
Kates called the terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7 a “necessary action.”
“It is incumbent on us that when we do go out and speak at demonstrations, and we do go out and organize, to say that we stand with the Palestinian armed resistance. And that we support them. And that this is a struggle that we want to be part of,” she added.
While the event was scheduled to take place at Barnard College’s Institute for Research on Women, event organizers held it in a Columbia residence hall.
“We are aware of an unsanctioned, unapproved event that took place last night. Columbia canceled the event, denying requests to use university space, as did Barnard. Despite this, the event organizers held the event in a residence with an online option. We are investigating this matter and will not tolerate violations of university policy,” a Columbia spokesperson said.
According to the report, Barakat once said that he “wish[ed] ISIS would fight the Zionists.”
The House Committee on Education & the Workforce, which is investigating Columbia for its response to campus anti-Semitism, said in a post on X that the event raises ”serious questions.
