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Columbia University Is Failing to Protect Its Jewish Students
An anti-Israel ‘apartheid wall’ on display at Columbia University during Apartheid Week in 2017. Photo: Facebook.
There is good reason Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, and the co-chairs of its Board of Directors have been called to testify at a Congressional hearing on antisemitism on April 17, and it is high time they are held accountable.
On the very same day as the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust — and long before any Israeli response into Gaza — antisemitism began spiraling on Columbia’s campus.
One Columbia student wrote: “Within literal hours we were forced to go from grieving the most traumatic losses to defending our right to grieve and even exist.” Another student was assaulted with a broomstick, fracturing his finger on October 16, as he hung posters about the more than 240 hostages kidnapped by Hamas into Gaza. Other students were spat on for speaking Hebrew.
Columbia’s Antisemitism Task Force determined that anti-Israel extremists “have disrupted classes and events, taken over spaces in academic buildings, held unauthorized demonstrations, and used ugly language to berate individuals who were filming these protests or just walking by.”
One member of the Student Executive Board of Columbia/Barnard Hillel reported that, “an Israeli student’s phone number was leaked and she received aggressive and explicit text messages and phone calls for weeks; while walking through a protest to campus, a Jewish student’s Magen David necklace was grabbed by a protester; and a kippah-wearing student was approached in the kosher dining hall by another student, who looked at him and said, ‘[expletive] the Jews,’ and then walked out.”
Even Jewish professors are not safe at Columbia. An Israeli-American Columbia Professor, Shai Davidai, publicly called out the antisemitism at his employer, saying he was “abandoned by colleagues who whitewash and excuse barbarities that included the raping of Israeli women and the execution of disabled Israeli children as a mere ‘military response,’ who consider such horrors as ‘awesome’ acts of ‘resistance.’” Professor Davidai is under internal investigation for speaking out.
This climate and lack of protection are why Jewish billionaire investor and philanthropist Henry Swieca quit the board of the Columbia Business School, writing in his October 30 resignation letter that: “With blatantly anti-Jewish student groups and professors allowed to operate with complete impunity, it sends a clear and distressing message that Jews are not just unwelcome, but also unsafe on campus… My resignation is an expression of my deep concern for the direction in which the university is heading.”
A lawsuit filed by five students in Federal court alleges that Columbia effectively did not substantially intervene as antisemitism intensified on campus, noting that: “Columbia, one of America’s leading universities, has for decades been one of the worst centers of academic antisemitism in the United States.” Students are being whipped into hatred against Jews on campus, with no fewer than five referenda targeting Israel on campus this semester so far, which research shows contributes to antisemitism on campuses.
When Columbia University, my alma mater, reaches out to me for donation checks, I write one thing across their letters in black marker: “Protect your Jewish students!” For parents of Jewish and pro-Israel students, now is the time to be strong. Stop donating to these schools; stop applying to these schools; and when all else fails, engage in civil rights lawsuits to protect Jewish and Israeli students on college campuses.
Sheila Nazarian is a Los Angeles physician and star of the Emmy-nominated Netflix series Skin Decision: Before and After.
The post Columbia University Is Failing to Protect Its Jewish Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Revokes Palestinian Officials’ Visas Ahead of UN Meeting, State Dept Says
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas looks on as he visits the Istishari Cancer Center in Ramallah, in the West Bank, May 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman
The US is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority ahead of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September, the State Department said on Friday.
The department did not name the officials targeted. It was unclear whether Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is planning to travel to New York to deliver an address to the late September gathering, was included in the restrictions.
The Palestinians’ ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters that they were checking exactly what the US move means “and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly.”
Abbas’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US restrictions follow the imposition of US sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization in July, even as other Western powers move toward recognition of Palestinian statehood.
In a statement, the State Department said that “it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
Officials with the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in much of the West Bank, reject that they’ve undermined peace prospects.
Under the 1947 UN “headquarters agreement,” the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism, and foreign policy reasons.
The State Department said that the Palestinian Authority’s mission to the UN would not be included in the restrictions. It did not elaborate.
Close US allies Canada, Britain, Australia, and France in recent weeks announced or signaled their intention to recognize a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly meeting.
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Turkey Bars Israeli Ships From Its Ports, Restricts Airspace
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a press conference following the inaugural meeting of the Balkans Peace Platform, a Turkish-led initiative aimed at fostering dialogue and cooperation across the Western Balkans, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Murad Seze
Turkey has decided to bar Israeli vessels from using its ports, forbid Turkish ships from using Israeli ports, and impose restrictions on planes entering Turkish airspace, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday.
He provided few details in comments to parliament which appeared to summarize steps that Turkey has already taken against Israel over the war in Gaza or has started to implement.
Turkey has fiercely criticized Israel’s offensive in Gaza and accuses it of committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave, a charge that Israel denies. Ankara has halted all trade with Israel, called for international measures against it, and urged world powers to stop supporting Israel.
Sources told Reuters last week that Turkish port authorities had also started informally requiring shipping agents to provide letters declaring that vessels are not linked to Israel and not carrying military or hazardous cargo bound for the country.
A source had also said that Turkish-flagged ships would be prohibited from calling at Israeli ports.
“We have totally cut our trade with Israel, we have closed off our ports to Israeli ships and we are not allowing Turkish vessels to go to Israel’s ports,” Fidan told an extraordinary parliamentary session on Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
“We are not allowing container ships carrying weapons and ammunition to Israel to enter our ports, and airplanes to go into our airspace,” he added, without giving details.
Fidan also said Turkey had presidential approval to carry out air drops of aid to Gaza.
“Our planes are ready, once Jordan gives its approval, we will be in a position to go,” he told lawmakers.
The Israeli government did not immediately comment on his remarks.
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UK Blocks Israeli Officials From Its Biggest Defense Show
Visitors look at ammunition on display at the Defense and Security Equipment International trade show in this file photo in London, Britain, Sept. 12, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Britain has barred Israeli officials from its biggest defense trade show over its escalation of the war against Hamas in Gaza, its latest effort to pressure a historically close ally over the conflict.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government said in July it would recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel took steps to relieve suffering in the enclave and met other conditions, enraging the Israeli government.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense said that as a result of the trade fair ban it would not run its national pavilion as it has done previously at London’s Defense & Security Equipment International (DSEI) event.
Israeli defense companies, such as Elbit Systems, Rafael, IAI, and Uvision, will still be able to attend.
Britain’s move had echoes of a dispute at the Paris Air Show three months ago, when France blocked off with black partitions the stands of Israeli defense companies after they refused to remove attack weapons from display, sparking a furious response from Israel.
A British government spokesperson said on Friday that the Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza was wrong.
“As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.”
“There must be a diplomatic solution to end this war now, with an immediate ceasefire, the return of the hostages and a surge in humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” the spokesperson added.
Israel said Britain’s decision was a “regrettable act of discrimination” and “introduces political considerations wholly inappropriate for a professional defense industry exhibition.”
The four-day show, due to open on Sept. 9, features national delegations and private companies, who showcase military kit and weapons at London’s Excel center. The event takes place every other year.
DSEI is organized by a private company, Clarion Defense and Security, but with backing from the British government and the military.