Days after Columbia University's president testified before Congress, the atmosphere on campus remained volatile Sunday due to pro-Palestinian protests that drew police attention and concerns from some Jewish students. Ta.
Over the weekend, student-led demonstrations on campus, as well as demonstrations that appeared to be unrelated to the university, occurred just outside Columbia University's gated campus in Upper Manhattan, which was closed to the public due to protests. It sparked another, more agitated protest by participants.
Some of these protests took a dark turn Saturday night, leading to harassment of some Jewish students who were targeted with anti-Semitic abuse. The verbal attack threatened some of Columbia University's 5,000 Jewish students for their safety on and around campus, and even prompted condemnation from the White House and government. Mayor Eric Adams of New York City.
White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement: “All Americans have the right to peacefully protest, but calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are , is blatantly anti-Semitic, unconscionable and dangerous.”
However, Jewish students supporting the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus said they felt a sense of solidarity rather than a sense of crisis, although they condemned the anti-Semitic acts.
Grant Miner, a Jewish graduate student at Columbia University and a member of a student coalition calling for Columbia to divest from companies with ties to Israel, said, “Young Jews, who are an integral part of the protests, There are a lot of them,” he said.
“We are frustrated by the media's distraction that focuses on inflammatory individuals who do not represent us,” the group said in a statement, adding that its members “don't accept any form of… We also firmly reject hatred and prejudice.”
Reports of anti-Semitic harassment by protesters surfaced on social media late Saturday.video Posted in X It shows a masked protester holding a Palestinian flag outside the gates of Columbia and appearing to shout “Go back to Poland!”A Columbia University student wrote on social media He said some demonstrators stole Israeli flags from students and tried to burn them, adding that Jewish students were doused with water.
Chabad of Columbia University, a branch of the International Orthodox Jewish Movement, said: in a statement Some protesters reportedly hurled abuse at Jewish students returning home from campus over the weekend, telling them, “All you do is colonize” and “Go back to Europe.”
“We are frightened and concerned about our safety” on campus, the statement said, adding that additional armed security personnel have been hired to escort students walking home from Chabad. added.
“I don't feel safe anymore” on campus, said Eliana Goldin, a third-year Columbia University student and co-president of the pro-Israel student group Arie. Goldin, who is out of town for Passover, said the campus was “very overwhelmed,” with loud protests disrupting classes and even sleep.
Columbia University spokeswoman Samantha Slater said in a statement that the university is committed to ensuring the safety of its students.
“Columbia students have the right to protest, but disrupting campus life or harassing or threatening other students or community members will not be tolerated,” the statement said. “We are acting on the concerns raised by our Jewish students and are providing additional support and resources to ensure the safety of our community.”
This week's unrest on and around the Columbia campus marks the latest fallout from testimony given by the university's President Nemat Shafik at a Congressional hearing on anti-Semitism on Wednesday.
Dr. Shafiq disciplines professors and student protesters for using language she noted could be anti-Semitic, including controversial expressions such as “from the river to the sea” He also vowed to crack down on anti-Semitism on campus. Her testimony, meant to demonstrate positive Columbia University's actions to combat anti-Semitism, has infuriated academic freedom advocates, who are protesting by setting up about 50 tents on the campus' main lawn this week. encouraged the student group.
University officials said the tents violated school policy, and on Thursday they alerted New York police, who arrested more than 100 Columbia and Barnard College students who refused to leave. However, police intervention only inflamed the commotion further. Students continued their “Gaza Solidarity Camp” in the cold without pitching tents on the grass next door, and some students began erecting tents again on Sunday without permission from Colombia.
Students supporting the protesters say there is a wide range of opinions among Jewish students at Columbia University. “When you say it's dangerous for Jews, to me it shows that you're only talking about a part of the Jewish people,” Miner, 27, said at the university on Sunday.
“We totally oppose any anti-Semitic speech,” he added. “We are here in solidarity with Palestine. And we refuse – our Jewish members refuse – to equate that with anti-Semitism.”
Makayla Gubey, a third-year human rights student at Columbia University, said that as a Jewish student, she has been primarily concerned about the safety of her fellow protesters on behalf of Palestinians.
Gabbay said that over the past six months, her friends, especially Palestinian and Muslim students, have been injured by police and censored for their activities. Although she was not involved in organizing the camps, she went to the camps on Friday Sabbaths, and she attended speeches by participants in the violent 1968 Colombian protests, giving her friends a hot I brought some tea.
“There was a lot of amazing solidarity, with other students coming to campus, hosting Shabbat, hosting screenings, having faculty give speeches,” Gabay said.
Columbia University officials have previously said there have been several anti-Semitic incidents on campus, including a physical attack in October and a number of Hamas attacks against Israel in October. The attack also included an assault on a 24-year-old Columbia University student who was handing out flyers a day later.
Many Jewish students left campus to celebrate Passover, which begins Monday night, but the rising tensions prompted at least one rabbi on campus to say the Ivy League school was no longer safe. He suggested that Jewish students should leave.
Elie Buechler, an Orthodox rabbi who works at Columbia University, sent a WhatsApp message Sunday morning to a group of more than 290 Jewish students, saying, “In the face of extreme anti-Semitism and discrimination, the campus and city… The police could not guarantee the safety of Jewish students.” Anarchy. He advised students to return home “until the reality on and around campus improves dramatically.”
“It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus,” said Rabbi Rabbi, director of the Jewish Learning Initiative at the Orthodox Union campuses of Columbia University and Barnard College. Buechler wrote. “No one should have to endure this level of hate, especially in a school.”
Rabbi Buechler declined to be interviewed, citing Passover preparations, but said his message was intended as a personal statement and reflected the views of the university and the campus Jewish group Hillel. He said it was not.
Indeed, in apparent reaction, Hillel released a statement Sunday afternoon saying that the organization does not believe Jewish students should leave Columbia, but that it is pressuring the university and city to increase safety measures. He said he put it on.
“We call on university officials to take immediate action to restore calm to campus,” wrote Brian Cohen, the group's executive director. “The city must allow students to travel between Broadway and Amsterdam without fear of harassment,” he added, referring to the thoroughfare that runs along the Upper West Side campus.
Noah Levine, 20, a sophomore at Columbia University and an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace, said he found the rabbi's comments “very offensive.”
“I am a Jewish student and have been in this encampment ever since it began,” they said. “I am also a student who has been organizing this community with these people since October and even before that, and I believe in my heart that this is not about anti-Semitism.”
However, Dr. Xavier Westergaard, a biology student, said the atmosphere among Jewish students was “very dire.”
“There are students on campus who are shouting horrible things, not just about Israelis or the actions of the state and government, but about Jews in general,” he said.
Sharon Otterman Contributed to the report.