The Orthodox rabbis of Columbia University and Barnard College sent a message recommending Jewish students leave campus and go home, as anti-Israel agitators continue to “camp out” on campus, calling participants a full endorsement of terrorism and violence. This has been captured on camera. towards Jewish students.
In a WhatsApp message sent to hundreds of people before the start of Passover, Rabbi Eli Buechler, director of OU-LJIC at Columbia/Barnard, asked students to leave “as soon as possible” until the situation improves, noting that That “what we are seeing on and around campus is horrifying and tragic.”
Buechler wrote, “The events of the past few days, especially last night, have made it clear that the public safety of Columbia University and the NYPD cannot guarantee the safety of Jewish students in the face of extreme anti-Semitism and lawlessness. ” “I am very sad to say that I would strongly recommend that you return home as soon as possible and remain at home until the reality on and around campus improves dramatically.”
Anti-Israel protesters outside Columbia University on April 20, 2024. (Leonardo Munoz/AFP via Getty Images)
The rabbi said: “As Jews it is not our job to ensure our safety on campus. No one should have to endure this level of hatred, let alone a school.”
House GOP Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. on Sunday called on Columbia University President Dr. Nemat “Minoche” Shafik to “immediately resign”, noting that Columbia’s leadership has “clearly lost control of its campus” within the past 24 hours. “Endangering the safety of Jewish students.”
Stefanik stressed that the hours of preparation by Columbia leadership for her testimony before a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing last week “clearly demonstrated their callousness in enforcing their own campus rules and protecting Jewish students on campus.” There was an attempt to cover up the failure.”
Despite Shafiq allowing the New York Police Department onto the campus the day after his testimony before Congress, where lawmakers questioned him about the lack of consequences for anti-Semitism at the Ivy League school, More than 100 people arrested And on Thursday, after being suspended from the university, he has been released from custody.
An anti-Israel camp is set up in the closed compound and police officers are watching from beyond the gate.
Videos circulating online appear to cross the line into supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement or human rights pleas for Palestinians in Gaza, as speakers described the Columbia camp as a “training ground” for “combatants.” It has been described and praised. The October 7 attacks, when Hamas terrorists killed approximately 1,200 Jews and took more than 240 hostages.
Beyond “Free, Free Palestine”, protesters’ slogans included “Al-Qassam, you make us proud, kill another soldier now!”, “We say justice, you say how, how. To Tel Aviv Burn!”, and, “Hamas we love you. We support your rockets too!”
Anti-Israel protest outside Columbia University on April 20, 2024. (Leonardo Munoz/AFP via Getty Images)
An anti-Israel protester was seen holding a sign reading “al-Qassam’s next targets”, pointing towards a group of Jewish students who were singing and waving an Israeli flag. The al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of Hamas.
Another video shows protesters walking Jewish students off campus, shouting, “Go back to Europe,” and, “All you do is colonize.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, The Daily Wire’s founder, Ben Shapiro, condemned how universities “have spent years telling conservatives on campus to shut up — that they are hurting the sensibilities of far-left students by saying But ‘microaggressions’ can be done that boys can do this, don’t be girls etc.”
Shapiro said, “They have spent the same years promoting radical leftists who actively undermine the actual functioning of universities. Columbia’s latest protests were not designed to be peaceful. They were intended to intimidate and harass. Was designed for.” He told me how is the latest protest Pro-Hamas activists cheered on 7 October, promising a new 7 October “every day” and shouting, “We are all Hamas.”
“Columbia has no obligation to support terrorist supporters who harass students and disrupt the functioning of the university,” Shapiro said. “Columbia spent months doing the same after October 7: There is already a lawsuit underway alleging that ‘Jewish and Israeli students have been physically attacked, spat upon, intimidated And they have been constantly threatened and defamed.'”
Shai Davidai, a Jewish professor at Columbia who went viral in October after citing the school’s inaction on anti-Semitism, demanded that the National Guard be brought in if the NYPD could not take action.
“(Shafiq) needs to open the doors of the university. And NYPD needs to come And disperse the crowd and arrest anyone who refuses. And put them in jail. And if the NYPD can’t do it, we need the National Guard,” Davidi told Fox News Digital. “With all the history of the National Guard on American campuses. If Columbia Can’t Keep Jewish Students Safe. And if police are to continue to protect Jewish students, the National Guard must do the same. Because this is a civil rights issue. This is not about war in Israel. This is a Jewish civil rights issue.”
A view of banners and Palestinian flags as anti-Israel protesters demonstrate again at Columbia University on Friday, April 19, 2024. (Selcuk Acre/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“This is a hostile takeover of the university,” he said. “This is a show of support for Hamas on the one hand and for Western civilization on the other… This demonstration is taking place on Columbia’s campus.”
At a congressional hearing on Wednesday, House Republicans asked Shafiq what consequences Columbia professors Joseph Massad, Katherine Franke and Mohammed Abdu faced for celebrating on Oct. 7. The university president swore that Abdou would never work at Columbia, but gave ambiguous testimony on whether Massad was reprimanded by his dean about his comments or removed as chair of a committee.
Shapiro told Fox News Digital, “Professor Joseph Massad described Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack on Israel as a ‘counteroffensive’ designed to fight ‘racism against Palestinians.'” Professor Katherine Franke said, ‘All Israeli students serving in the IDF are dangerous and should not be on campus.’ Professor Mohammed Abdu posted on social media on October 11, ‘I am with Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.’ It’s too bad that Colombia decided to bend over backwards to accommodate its pro-Hamas radicals so far.”
Davidi claimed that the demonstrations in Colombia “were never about human rights.”
“From the very first moment, these protests were about justifying rape as a goal,” she said, referring to the October 7 Hamas terror attack. “This is not about human rights.”
Anti-Israel protesters resumed demonstrations at Columbia University on Friday, the third day of a “Gaza solidarity camp” following mass arrests by the New York Police Department on April 19, 2024. (Selcuk Acre/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Davidi is requesting that Colombia’s leadership approve a police escort for a “peaceful” sit-in in the center of the encampment on Monday, telling Fox News Digital, “We are not going to align with the other side, but we need protection. There’s a need. And I’ll be there if I get protection or not and whatever happens is the responsibility of Columbia University.”
