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Live updates: Elected officials, Jewish leaders respond to Columbia protests

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
 A counter protestor talks into a microphone as people gather outside of Columbia University to demand a ceasefire and the end of Israeli attacks on Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during a protest in New York, US, April 20, 2024. (photo credit: Reuters/Adam Gray)
A counter protestor talks into a microphone as people gather outside of Columbia University to demand a ceasefire and the end of Israeli attacks on Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during a protest in New York, US, April 20, 2024.
(photo credit: Reuters/Adam Gray)

Pro-terror rhetoric rises as anti-Israel activists think they’re winning - analysis

The mask has fallen for the same reason it momentarily slipped on October 7 itself: The anti-Israel activists are confident, comfortable, and believe they are winning as they support terrorism.

By MICHAEL STARR
 The gates to Columbia University are locked with a padlock as demonstrators gather outside to demand a ceasefire and the end of Israeli attacks on Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during a protest in New York, U.S., April 20, 2024. (photo credit: Reuters/Adam Gray)
The gates to Columbia University are locked with a padlock as demonstrators gather outside to demand a ceasefire and the end of Israeli attacks on Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during a protest in New York, U.S., April 20, 2024.
(photo credit: Reuters/Adam Gray)

The Columbia University encampment protests have seen a startling escalation in violent and pro-terrorist rhetoric since the anti-Israel activists occupied the campus on Wednesday.

Videos of demonstrators promising to carry out more massacres similar to the one on October 7 have flooded social media, many of them posted by pro-Palestinian groups and activists themselves.

They have not only praised Hamas, calling on them to kill more IDF soldiers, shoot rockets, and burn down Tel Aviv, but they have also identified with the terrorist group, with one woman saying, “We’re all Hamas.”

Pro-terrorist chants take over the campus

The explicitly pro-terrorism chants, slogans, and speeches made by the anti-Israel activists are a jarring contrast to the rhetoric they have employed over the last few months.

Anti-Israel activists have largely used terms and phrases that provide a thin veneer of plausible deniability about their violent aspirations and objectives.

 Demonstrators gather outside of Columbia University to demand a ceasefire and the end of Israeli attacks on Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during a protest in New York, U.S., April 20, 2024.  (credit: Reuters/Adam Gray) Demonstrators gather outside of Columbia University to demand a ceasefire and the end of Israeli attacks on Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during a protest in New York, U.S., April 20, 2024. (credit: Reuters/Adam Gray)

Protesters have constantly called for an intifada, obviously in reference to the waves of terrorism that rocked Israel in the 1990s and early 2000s. Still, activists insisted, as Stop the War member Shabbir Lakha said in the UK in February, that it just meant “uprising,” stripping away all context. 

This same game of pretending there is nuance in the use of a word also extends to “Jihad,” which the London Metropolitan Police claimed in October had “a number of meanings.”

One of the most popular chants used by anti-Israel activists has been the slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The phrase implicitly calls for the destruction of the State of Israel, which lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. 

While the US House of Representatives passed a resolution calling it antisemitic on Tuesday, activists have been able to skirt around university policies for years with the slogan.

Anti-Israel activists have insisted that the destruction of Israel is not necessarily genocidal and that the goal of chants like “we don’t want two states, we want ‘48” is simply to establish one state where Jews and Arabs can live together with the same rights in utopian harmony.

Through obvious word substitution, “Zionist” was used in place of “Jew,” and Israelis and Diaspora Jews around the world were asked to pretend that they didn’t notice that “Zionist” was being used in classic antisemitic tropes about money and power. Antisemitism and anti-Zionism are not the same, anti-Zionist Jews assured.

Over the course of the last few months, activist groups have constantly alluded to “floods” in their rhetoric, as if Israelis and Jews didn’t understand that they were referencing the Hamas operational name for the October 7 massacre: “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.” This often manifests in calls to “flood the street” or, like Within Our Lifetime wrote on a Saturday call to action, “Flood Columbia for Gaza!”

Almost all of the protests have fallen under the farce that they were pushing for a “permanent ceasefire” while also calling for intifada and for a Palestinian state to be established from the river to the sea.

THE PRETENSE of advocating for peace and an immediate ceasefire was stripped away on Wednesday when anti-Israel activists established an encampment on Columbia grounds; other universities have followed suit.

The mask of the protestors has come off, revealing what they truly advocate for

The mask has fallen for the same reason it momentarily slipped on October 7 itself: The anti-Israel activists are confident, comfortable, and believe they are winning.

On October 7, anti-Israel activists, many forgetting themselves, took to social media and the streets and celebrated before any IDF response had begun. 

More than just celebrating, anti-Israel demonstrators called for more blood, acting as if they were on the cusp of complete victory, i.e., the toppling of Israel.

They called for the gassing of Jews in Sydney, and across X, they urged Hamas to carry out the same actions committed on October 7 across Israel. 

When the moment of ecstasy was over, they composed themselves and put the mask back on. Yet every time the pro-terrorist mob felt they were winning again, they allowed us a glimpse at what they truly advocated for.

The anti-Israel activists smelled blood in the water on April 15 as organizations like WOL and American Muslims for Palestine blockaded bridges, roads, airports, and businesses in an effort to cause economic damage to Western states. 

As their confidence grew, they shouted “Death to America” while burning US flags and, with Hamas headbands and Hezbollah flags, showed open support for terrorist organizations.

Anti-Israel activists feel like they are defeating the administration and the New York Police Department when maintaining their encampment.

Moreover, they believe, perhaps rightly so, that they can replicate the encampment of universities across the United States and force institutions to adopt boycott, divestment, and sanctions policies.

“Who runs Columbia?” the activists chanted during a livestream on social media on Saturday. “The students run Columbia!”

During the protests, they confirmed what was meant by chants like “Globalize the intifada,” with a protest leader giving a speech on Saturday night explaining that “it was the Al-Aqsa Flood that put the global intifada back on the table again.”

Initial calls for a ceasefire were a ploy 

Calls for a ceasefire were revealed to be merely a ploy as activists urged Hamas to fire rockets at Tel Aviv. 

They showed that they fully supported the actions of October 7, warning that the “7th of October is going to be every day for you.” 

As they chanted “Jews” and told them to “go back to Poland” and sang in Arabic that “from river to river, Palestine is Arab,” it became painfully obvious that they wanted to ethnically cleanse or genocide Jews in the Levant.

As events continue to unfold in Columbia and other universities and anti-Israel activists get drunk on victory, they will no doubt continue to reveal even more about their true intentions. 

After October 7, they put the mask back on, and they will try to do so again after this wave of chaos.

It is necessary to share what they truly think and desire as broadly as possible so that, no matter what, everyone will know the ugliness behind the mask.

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Rabbi to Jewish Columbia students amid rallies: Campus not safe, go home

Jewish students at Columbia University are advised to leave campus due to escalating anti-Israel protests, fearing for their safety amid growing unrest.

By MICHAEL STARR
 A pro-Israeli counter protestor holds up a sign as demonstrators gather outside of Columbia University to demand a ceasefire and the end of Israeli attacks on Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during a protest in New York, U.S.April 20, 2024 (photo credit: Reuters/Adam Gray)
A pro-Israeli counter protestor holds up a sign as demonstrators gather outside of Columbia University to demand a ceasefire and the end of Israeli attacks on Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during a protest in New York, U.S.April 20, 2024
(photo credit: Reuters/Adam Gray)

A rabbi at Columbia University on Sunday morning called on Jewish students to go home until the campus was safe after days of anti-Israel protests in which protesters called for further October 7 Massacres, claimed membership with Hamas, and expressed support for terrorism.

Orthodox Union Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus director rabbi Elie Buechler told students that the protests that had unfolded since Wednesday "have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy."

Pained to tell the students to return home

"It deeply pains me to say that I would strongly recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved," Buechler told Jewish students in leaked text messages. "It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus. No one should have to endure this level of hatred, let alone at school." 

The OU-JLIC aids Jewish students in observing Jewish tradition and participating in Jewish life on campuses.  Another Jewish life campus organization, Columbia University and Barnard College Hillel, wrote on Twitter that they "do not believe that Jewish students should leave Columbia. We do believe that the University and the City need to do more to ensure the safety of our students."

 Columbia University student Jessie Brenner speaks at a news conference in October, calling on the university's administration to support students facing antisemitism. (credit: JEENAH MOON/REUTERS) Columbia University student Jessie Brenner speaks at a news conference in October, calling on the university's administration to support students facing antisemitism. (credit: JEENAH MOON/REUTERS)

Protecting Jewish students

"During times of crisis, Columbia/Barnard Hillel is always here for Jewish students. This is a time of genuine discomfort and even fear for many of us on campus. Let me be clear – the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life is and will remain open," Columbia/Barnard Hillel director Brian Cohen said in a statement.

"Columbia University and the City of New York must do more to protect students. We call on the University Administration to act immediately to restore calm to campus. The City must ensure that students can walk up and down Broadway and Amsterdam without fear of harassment."

The Columbia Chabad said on Instagram on Sunday that they couldn't stay silent about what they were seeing on campus and that it had been a "rough two semesters, but this week has been off the charts."

"The protests on campus and outside of campus have been ongoing for over 48 hours straight," Chabad Columbia co-director Naomi Drizin said in a statement. "Many students feel scared and isolated. They have been kept up at night and are struggling to keep up with their schoolwork. The atmosphere is debilitating."

In a letter to Columbia President Minouche Shafik on Friday, the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association requested that she "immediately take all possible steps to protect student safety."

"It is clear to us that Columbia is not under mob rule -- a mob, by the way, that is only interested in attention and chaos rather than thoughtful dialogue or reasoned debate," said the alumni group. "We are, in short, afraid that violence against Jewish students is imminent."

Students Support Israel Columbia said on Friday that Pro-Israel, Jewish, and Israeli students at Columbia "have spent the past 38 hours watching in fear and horror as our campus devolved into utter chaos."

"The situation on campus has become utterly and categorically untenable for an educational institution that has the responsibility of ensuring its students have a productive academic environment conducive to continued learning," said SSI.

Israeli Columbia professor Shai Davidai also sent a letter to Shafik on Sunday, in which he warned that on Monday, he and other Jewish and Israeli students, faculty, and staff would be sitting at the center of the anti-Israel encampment.

"Since the events of last night have shown that you have completely failed to protect the safety of your Jewish and Israeli students, I am requesting approval to have a police escort of at least 10 cops with me," said Davidai. "You have a responsibility to protect our physical safety."

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'Burn Tel Aviv to the ground:' Calls for violence continue at Columbia

Jewish students were told by anti-Israel protesters to "go back to Europe."

By MICHAEL STARR
 Demonstrators sit in an encampment as they protest in solidarity with Pro-Palestinian organizers on the Columbia University campus, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in New York City, US. April 19, 2024. (photo credit: CAITLIN OCHS/REUTERS)
Demonstrators sit in an encampment as they protest in solidarity with Pro-Palestinian organizers on the Columbia University campus, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in New York City, US. April 19, 2024.
(photo credit: CAITLIN OCHS/REUTERS)

Calls for violence and terrorism at the Columbia University encampment protests continued to surface on Sunday in footage published by pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian activists.

“[Izz ad-Din] Al-Qassam [Brigades], make us proud, take another soldier out,” anti-Israel demonstrators chanted on Friday night in a video published on social media by pro-Palestinian activist ThizzL. “We say justice, you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground. Go Hamas, we love you. We support your rockets too.”

On Wednesday, in another video published by ThizzL, activists called for Hamas's military wing to "kill another soldier now."

 Demonstrators holding a banner protest in solidarity with Pro-Palestinian organizers as they block a street, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in New York City, US. April 18, 2024. (credit: CAITLIN OCHS/REUTERS) Demonstrators holding a banner protest in solidarity with Pro-Palestinian organizers as they block a street, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in New York City, US. April 18, 2024. (credit: CAITLIN OCHS/REUTERS)

During a speech live streamed by the Palestine Solidarity Working Group on Saturday night, a protest leader said in a speech, "Let it be known that it was the Al-Aqsa Flood that put the global intifada back on the table again. And it is the sacrificial spirit of the Palestinian freedom fighters that will guide every struggle on every corner of the earth to victory."

"Remember that militancy breeds Resistance," said the speaker. "Thousands upon thousands of students around the world have been moved to rebel because of your militancy."

Anti-Israel activists say Jewish students are Hamas's 'next targets'

The Jews of New York Instagram account shared on Sunday a video showing a woman in a keffiyeh with a sign that said "Al-Qassam's next targets," with an arrow pointing to counter-protesters waving Israeli and American flags.

Chabad Columbia shared Instagram stories of the same counter-protest late Saturday night, saying that they can no longer be quiet about what was going on at the campus.

"Uncultured a** b****es," the anti-Israel activists heckled. "Go back to Europe. You have no culture. All you do is colonize."

In another Instagram video, in which a poster of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine secretary-general Ahmad Sa'adat can be seen in the background, anti-Israel activists sang, "Oh Hamas, our beloved, strike, strike Tel Aviv."

As the counter-protesters returned to their dormitories, Students Supporting Israel Columbia video showed that they were taunted with calls of "Jews" and told to "go back to Poland."

One Jewish counter-protester tried to stop the activists from setting an Israeli flag on fire, according to SSI. In another video, a Jewish student was splashed with water.

Within Our Lifetime leader Nerdeen Kiswani, after her wedding, managed to enter the campus despite it being allegedly locked down. Kiswani led the crowd in a chant in a video published by Students for Justice in Palestine Columbia, saying "There is only one solution, Intifada revolution."

In a video published by Palestinian Youth Movement NYC, they chanted, "Zionism will fall, brick by brick, wall by wall, Israel will fall" and called "US imperialists, number one terrorists."

Uptown 4 Palestine published videos of activists proclaiming in Arabic that "From the water to the water (a reference to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea), Palestine is Arab." (The chant is an alternate version of the chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free")

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White House condemns protesters

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF

In a statement quoted by several media outlets, White House deputy spokesman Andrew Bates condemned the behavior of student protesters at Columbia University in New York City, where students set up an encampment on a university lawn earlier this week as the school's president prepared to testify before the US House of Representatives:

“While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous – they have absolutely no place on any college campus, or anywhere in the United States of America," Bate said.

"And echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms.”

Protests at Columbia have included chants widely understood as calls for terrorism: these include chants for "intifada," an Arabic term used to refer to Palestinian uprisings, including the Second Intifada, a wave of deadly terrorism in Israel that saw civilians targeted by fatal bombings on buses and at public places.

Other chants have included, in Arabic, "From the water to the water, Palestine is Arab," as well as, in English, "Israel, you will fall, brick by brick, wall by wall." Protesters have also carried signs proclaiming "Victory to the Palestinian resistance," a term used by groups including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to describe terrorist actions against Israelis, including the invasion of Israel on October 7 that initiated the ongoing war. 

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President Isaac Herzog condemns Columbia protest

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF

In a statement Sunday night, Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the ongoing protests at Columbia University, and called for more to be done to protect Jewish students on campus:

"The atrocious antisemitic actions at Columbia University are deeply disturbing," President Herzog said.

"To quote civil rights activist Professor Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel - who marched side by side with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. - we need a “Leap of action”. Indeed, firm and strong action must be taken to prevent antisemitism on campus.

"American academia must wake up to the threat, a clear and present danger to academic freedom and to the very lives of Jews on campus."

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Columbia protests


Columbia University has been roiled by protests all week, since students set up an encampment on a campus lawn the night before University President Minouche Shafik was set to testify before the House of Representatives.

Shafik authorized the New York Police Department (NYPD) to dismantle the encampment on April 18, and over a hundred students were arrested for trespassing. The encampment quickly reconstituted itself, and has seen a crowd of more than a hundred protesters gathered outside on a daily basis in support.

The protests, both on and off campus, have included regular expressions of support for Hamas and other terrorist groups, amid regular calls for "intifada" and the fall of Israel. 

Amid concern for Jewish students at the school, one campus rabbi directed Jewish students not to return to campus after the Passover holiday out of concern that their safety could not be guaranteed.