‘THEY SHOULD BE WORRIED’: Activist threatens continued anti-Israel protests in future
‘Divestment is not enough. Cutting academic ties is not enough. Israel needs to be isolated completely,’ the individual said.
The activist also called universities’ crackdowns on disruptive student protests an ‘outrageous reaction.’
An anti-Israel activist has threatened that protests against the Jewish State will continue.
Al Jazeera published an interview on Thursday with Zaid Jaloudi, a Columbia University protester. During the interview, Jaloudi threatened that the anti-Israel demonstrations that the Columbia administration shut down during the spring semester will continue.
“We’re only getting started and there’s only one goal,” Jaloudi said. “There’s only one juncture in which we can say we have succeeded, and that is complete isolation of the Zionist state.”
“Divestment is not enough,” Jaloudi continued. “Cutting academic ties is not enough. Israel needs to be isolated completely.”
[RELATED: Union Theological Seminary students demand pro-Hamas prof be hired in name of ‘social justice’]
Al Jazeera’s video at one point cuts to footage of a keffiyeh-clad Jaloudi during Columbia’s anti-Israel protests, showing him shouting: “We’re not going anywhere, and you can bring your batons and bats and your guns and your grenades, but you will divest.”
“The movement is still ongoing and very strong,” Jaloudi said during the interview. “There’s hundreds of encampments currently still happening. Occupations, further actions across the globe.”
Jaloudi also praised the anti-Israel demonstrators’ invasion and occupation of the Hamilton Hall building on campus, which the protestors renamed “Hind’s Hall.” Jaloudi said: “I don’t think it was a mistake to escalate,” and called the occupation of the building an “extremely focal point in the movement.”
Jaloudi condemned universities that worked to get their campuses back under control, saying it was an “outrageous reaction” to use law enforcement to end disruptive protests around the country.
“I think that they should be worried,” Jaloudi stated, “and I think that after everything that’s happened the past semester, they shouldn’t expect students to be afraid. Quite the opposite.”
[RELATED: Anti-Israel activists demand U of Colorado divest by gathering outside of Jewish regent’s house]
Jaloudi’s predictions are in line with those of Angus Johnston, an “historian of student activism” at the City University of New York, who believes that the anti-Israel sentiment among students will not simply dissipate.
“Whatever may transpire in Israel and Palestine between now and Labor Day, a return to the status quo of a year ago is now unthinkable,” Johnston told City & State in June. “The new Israel-Palestine activism will surely evolve going forward, but in one form or another it will be a prominent feature of American campus life for a long time to come.”
Campus Reform has contacted Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
