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Columbia University Shutters Campus as Jews Fear for Safety, Critics Call for President to Resign

Anti-Zionist protesters at Columbia University on April 18, 2024. Photo: Melissa Bender/Reuters Connect

An explosion of anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University in New York City continued throughout the weekend and into Monday, on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, prompting the administration to shutter the campus and institute “virtual” learning.

“To deescalate rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps, I am announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday,” Columbia University president Minouche Shafik said in a statement announcing the measure, the first of its kind since the COVID-19 pandemic. “Faculty and staff who can work remotely should do so; essential personnel should report to work according to university policy. Our preference is that students who do not live on campus will come to campus.”

All weekend, footage of Columbia students — who commandeered a section of campus and named it “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” — chanted in support of the Hamas terrorist group, called for the destruction of Israel, and even threatened to harm members of the Jewish community on campus.

“This unsanctioned mob of students and agitators being permitted to continue to target Jewish students has led to several documented incidents of despicable antisemitic harassment and calls for violence and terrorism,” all 10 New York Republican members of the US House of Representatives said in a letter to Shafik on Monday. “It is time for Columbia University to turn the page on this shameful chapter. This can only be done through the restoration of order and your prompt resignation. We, the undersigned members, urge you to step down immediately so that someone who will take action against this mob can step up to meet the moment this crisis demands.”

Amid the chaos at Columbia, a prominent rabbi at the school urged Jewish students to leave the campus for the sake of their safety.

Some members of the Columbia community expressed regret that their fears of students becoming vocal proponents of terrorism and subversion have been proven true.

“One thing that I’ve been telling people is that the truth is not up for election; its revelation is not dependent on popular vote,” Columbia University professor Shai Davidai, who is under investigation by the school after publicly commenting on the presence of pro-Hamas supporters on campus, told The Algemeiner on Monday. “Right now, we have a pro-Hamas, pro-Islamic Jihad mob still on campus and buried deep in the encampment, and you have pro-Hamas professors, and above all, you have the administration negotiating with them.”

Columbia University exploded into a welter of anti-Israel protests on Wednesday while Shafik was in Washington, DC testifying before the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce about antisemitism on the New York campus, where law enforcement had to be called to pacify the ongoing demonstrations on Thursday.

The situation was so severe that security officials deactivated Davidai’s identification card and temporarily banned him from campus because his safety could not be “guaranteed,” a measure which that could reflect the administration’s suspicion that its students, as well as the non-students they have attracted to campus, may resort to violence to make their point.

“Terrorism is wrong; rape is not a means to an end,” Davidai continued, referring to the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists during their Oct. 7 invasion of Israel.. “Yes, you have the right to freedom of speech, to shout your hatred for America, but that shows bad character and it’s very sad to see exactly that happening at Columbia.”

Rabbi Erez Sherman of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles told The Algemeiner that the demonstrations at Columbia reflected the degree to which antisemitism has achieved respectability. Over the weekend, he and 200 0ther faith leaders issued an open letter expressing support for Jewish students and faculty.

“As we witness antisemitism and Jewish hate becoming normative, it is powerful to witness the unity of rabbis, pastors, and faith leaders across the theological divides stand together for what is right and what is good,” Sherman said.

Convulsions of anti-Israel activity continued at Columbia throughout Monday. In the afternoon, anti-Zionist faculty at the school, as well its affiliate Barnard College, staged a walkout in support of the pro-Hamas demonstrations. According to an open letter published in the Columbia Spectator, virtually all of them are nontenured.

“We are working to overturn the student suspensions that have been issued and to ensure that administrators are not allowed to summon the NYPD [New York City Police Department] on a whim, when there is self-evidently no danger,” the group said. “Most of all we want you to feel at home here.”

NYPD officers arrested dozens of demonstrators last week for staging a riotous and unauthorized demonstration in which students, as well as non-students, declared solidarity with Hamas and called for the destruction of Israel. Video circulated on social media over the weekend showing some of the demonstrators harassing, intimidating, and threatening Jewish students.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Columbia University Shutters Campus as Jews Fear for Safety, Critics Call for President to Resign first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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‘Hamas, We Love You!’ A List of the Chants, Statements From Columbia University’s ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’

Anti-Israel protesters outside Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City, April 22, 2024. Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect

Anti-Israel activists at Columbia University in New York set up a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” in the middle of campus last week.

Protests accompanying the encampment — both on and off campus, including students and others from the surrounding community — have included pro-Hamas and antisemitic rhetoric.

In an effort to end the encampment, which was breaking school rules, the university’s president, Minouche Shafik, called in the New York City Police Department.

“I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances,” she said. “The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies. Through direct conversations and in writing, the university provided multiple notices of these violations.”

However, Shafik continued, “all of these attempts to resolve the situation were rejected by the students involved.”

Jewish students were advised to leave campus for their safety by Columbia’s orthodox rabbi, although other Jewish organizations have disagreed with that advice.

The pro-Hamas and antisemitic chants and statements made by those in connection with the encampment have even drawn comment from the White House: “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.”

Here is a comprehensive list of the chants and statements that produced such a response.

A protester stood in front of pro-Israel students who were waving Israeli and American flags with a sign reading, “Al-Qassam’s next targets,” referring to the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization.
A man yelled at two Jews, “Never forget the 7th of October. That will happen not one more time, not five more times, not 10 … 100 … 1,000 … 10,000 … The 7th of October is going to be every day for you.”
A crowd chanted, “Al-Qassam, you make us proud; kill another soldier now!”
Demonstrators yelled “Jews, Jews” in Arabic and others were saying “Go back to Poland.”
A group of demonstrators off-campus chanted, “We say justice, you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!”
“Hamas we love you. We support your rockets too!” 
“Red, black, green, and white, we support Hamas’ fight!”
“It is right to rebel, Al-Qassam, give them hell!”

More absolute insanity out of @Columbia tonight.
“Al-Qassam you make us proud! Take another soldier out!”
“We say justice, you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!”
“Hamas we love you. We support your rockets too!”
“Red, black, green, and white, we support Hamas’ fight!”
“It… pic.twitter.com/er1kSyEX5z

— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) April 21, 2024

A person in the encampment said, during a speech, “Let it be known that it was the Al-Aqsa Flood [Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel] 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.” 
She continued, “Remember that militancy breeds resistance. Thousands upon thousands of students around the world have been moved to rebel because of your militancy.” 
Members of the encampment created a “human wall” after a leader yelled, “Zionists have entered the camp!” The leader then directed the people there to take “one step forward … push them out of the camp.”
When asked if he condemns Hamas, a Columbia student responded, “I don’t need to condemn anybody. I condemn you motherf—ker!”
Another student led the following chants: “From the river to the sea, Palestine is Arab!” and “Resistance [Hamas] is justified!”
During a high-intensity protest, people chanted, “There is only one solution, intifada revolution!”
Students chanted, “Say it loud and say it clear: “We don’t want no Zionists.”
People gathered and protested around a “By any means necessary” banner.
An individual anti-Israel protester screamed, “We are all Hamas, pig! Long live Hamas.”
An individual said to Laura Loomer, a far-right activist, “Kill All Zionists” and told her he “loves Hamas” because “they kill Zionists.”
To a police officer named Ahmed, a protester outside Columbia yelled, “Traitor to his people! Get the f—k out of here, have some shame. Don’t f—king show your face here again you piece of s—t. Your mom is a wh—e.”
A poster outside the encampment reads, “Admitted students — enroll in revolution.”
A speaker told Columbia students during a speech, “Don’t work, don’t go to class, don’t research. Act out your Marxist and post-colonial ideas!”
A poster in the encampment read, “A message to the scum of nations and pigs of the Earth: Paradise lies in the shadow of swords. Glory to those who make the occupier feel bitterness.”

Anti-Israel encampments also popped up at other universities. Here is a list of some incidents from Yale University.

Students danced to a song with the lyrics “F—k Israel, Israel a b—ch; B—ch we out here mobbin’ on some Palestine s—t; free Palestine b—ch, Israel gon’ die b—ch; n—ga it’s they land why you out here tryna’ rob it; bulls—t prophets, y’all just want the profit.”
Students chanted “Viva, viva, Palestinia” while tearing down the American flag from a pole, cheering when it hit the ground.
A student poked a pro-Israel student/journalist in the eye with a flag. She had to get treated at the hospital.

It is unclear if and when university administrators will take action to end these encampments, which they have said violate school rules, and punish those involved.

Send information about additional incidents to jelbaum@algemeiner.com.

The post ‘Hamas, We Love You!’ A List of the Chants, Statements From Columbia University’s ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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‘Useless Pigs’: Anti-Israel Demonstrations Rage at Yale University, Forcing Police Intervention

Anti-Israel demonstrators at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut on April 22, 2024. Photo: Screenshot

Police were dispatched to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut on Monday to quell an illegal demonstration of anti-Israel activists that has been raging on the campus since Friday and resulted in the assault of a Jewish student.

Some 47 students were arrested early on Monday for trespassing, according to the Yale Daily News. They, and many others, had been camped outside Beinecke Plaza, claiming to starve themselves to protest Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza and the university’s links to Israel and companies that manufacture military armaments. The paper reported on Sunday that Assistant Dean Hannah Peck offered them a chance to leave without consequences.

The reported “deal” included no punishments for the demonstrators as well as a meeting with the chair of Yale’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility — which would provide a platform for the activists to push the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward the Jewish state’s eventual elimination.

Nonetheless, the university’s overture was repelled, and on Monday, Yale Police Department officers arrived at Beinecke Plaza, sealing off the area and dismantling tents in which the students were living for over a week. They were, the News explained, once again invited to leave and avoid criminal charges but refused to do so.

As police entered, a mass of students formed to chant, “Officer, officer, can’t you see? You’re on the wrong side of history” and other slogans comparing the officers, many of whom were Black or non-white, to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). However, the officers ultimately cleared the protesters from the area by 8 am, forcing them to move their demonstration off-campus. Displeased that order had been restored, some students proceeded to verbally abuse the officers, calling them “useless pigs” and shouting “shame on you” at them.

“The university made the decision to arrest those individuals who would not leave the plaza with the safety and security of the entire Yale community in mind and to allow access to university facilities by all members of our community,” a Yale spokesperson told The Algemeiner on Monday. “Yale provides detailed guidance on free expression, peaceable assembly, and requesting the use of on-campus outdoor spaces. Since the protest started, the university and the Yale Police Department worked to reduce the likelihood of confrontations and arrests.”

However, numerous reported confrontations did ensue during the conflagration, despite Yale’s assurances of its efforts. On Saturday, a male protestor — whose identity was concealed by a keffiyeh that he wrapped around his visage — jammed the wooden tip of a Palestinian flag into the eye a Jewish Yale student, Sahar Tartak.

Tartak, who said she was singled out for wearing Hasidic Jewish attire, was at the scene to report on the protest for The Yale Free Press, an effort that the protesters by forming a human chain around the Beinecke Plaza encampment. After the assault, a mob of anti-Zionist protesters prevented Tartak from pursuing the assailant.

“After this Yale student jabbed my eye with his flag, I tried to yell and run after him,” Tartak wrote on X/Twitter. “But the people in this video made a human blockade to stop me from confronting my assaulter. They stood in front of me in a line throughout the night.”

Later, she told Fox News: “He had anonymity because of the keffiyeh. The organizers encourage anonymity at these events because it creates immunity, so that students can physically assault people like me and get away with it.”

Tartak managed to stay on the scene, capturing and sharing footage of the demonstration. In one video shared on X, a throng of students swayed side to side in rhythmic synchronization with an antisemitic hip-hop song, which said, “F—k Israel, Israel a b—ch … N—ga, it’s they land, why you out here tryna [sic] rob it. Bulls—t prophets, y’all just want the profit.”

Other footage showed an apparent melding of minds between Yale University students and Islamist terrorist organizations, with many shouting “Death to America” and other slogans calling for the destruction of Israel and all of Western civilization.

On Monday, Yale University told The Algemeiner that punishments for those involved in this weekend’s events are forthcoming but admitted that administrators will only go so far in holding them to account.

“Students who were arrested also will be referred for Yale disciplinary action, which includes a range of sanctions, such as reprimand, probation, or suspension,” the university said.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post ‘Useless Pigs’: Anti-Israel Demonstrations Rage at Yale University, Forcing Police Intervention first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Palestinian Arrested for Murdering Israeli Teen in West Bank Terror Attack

Israeli settlers look for 14-year-old Benjamin Achimeir, who was found murdered after he went missing in the area near the village of al-Mughayyer, in the West Bank, April 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS /Mohammed Torokman

Israeli security forces said on Monday that they arrested a Palestinian man for allegedly killing a 14-year-old Israeli in the West Bank earlier this month in what authorities described as a terrorist attack.

Ahmed Dawabsha, 21, a resident of the West Bank town of Duma near Ramallah, was arrested overnight for his alleged involved in the murder of Benjamin Achimeir, who was found dead on April 13, a day after he went missing while herding sheep.

Dawabsha “implicated himself” in the April 12 attack near the West Bank outpost of Malachei Shalom during an interrogation, according to a joint statement from Israeli police, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and the Shin Bet security agency.

The security forces led an “intelligence and operational effort in an attempt to trace the identity of the terrorist,” the statement added.

The Shin Bet said there had been significant developments in the investigation over the past day that led to the suspect’s arrest.

The post Palestinian Arrested for Murdering Israeli Teen in West Bank Terror Attack first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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