What a surprise -- Palestinians threatening terrorist attacks. I did not expect that.
Columbia is threatening to suspend the protesters if they do not clear off. I bet half of them are outsiders, so the threat of suspension means literally nothing.
Columbia University has warned anti-Israel protesters they'll be suspended if they don't clear out of their tent encampment by 2 p.m. Monday -- just hours after the Ivy League's embattled president Minouche Shafik admitted that all other negotiations had failed.
The protesters were given the ultimatum as NYPD buses were spotted arriving outside the Morningside Heights campus Monday morning.
"It is important for you to know that the university has already identified many students in the encampment," a letter warning students of the looming deadline read. "If you do not leave by 2pm, you will be suspended pending further investigation."
"If you voluntarily leave by 2pm, identify yourself to a university officials, and sign the provided form where you commit to abide by all university policies through June 30, 2025, or the date of the conferral of your degree, whichever is earlier, you will be eligible to complete the semester in good standing," added the letter, shared by the Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine.
It comes after Shafik had earlier urged the student protesters to "voluntarily disperse" and dismantle the encampment that has plagued the Ivy League campus for more than a week, saying Columbia was looking at other "internal options to end this crisis as soon as possible."
The president acknowledged the encampment was making Jewish students uncomfortable and had caused many to flee campus, but stopped short of making any apology.
...
It comes as college presidents across the country are making the decision to crack down and send in law enforcement to remove anti-Israel protesters, who are causing chaos and disrupting classes.
House Democrats have begun demanding that university presidents end the protests, or resign.
Nearly two dozen House Democrats put Columbia University's Board of Trustees on notice Monday, demanding its members either move to disband the anti-Israel encampments or resign.
The group of 21 Dems, led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Dan Goldman of New York, underscored in a letter to the board how Jewish students at the prestigious Ivy League school in Manhattan have faced a spate of harassment, threats of violence and intimidation.
"The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and assembly, but not freedom to harass and intimidate other students," the Democrats wrote.
"It is clear to us that the University has allowed the encampment to create an environment that appears to violate its legal obligations to protect all students from discrimination and harassment," the letter said.
I don't like the protesters, and I support Israel and of course am a Friend to All Jews (TM), but I'm very uncomfortable with the SJW push to brand anything that Jews don't like as "harassment." So I don't support the blanket claim that any anti-Israel agitation is "harassment" or "intimidation."
If you need evidence of how insidious this, try posting about George Soros' support for mass illegal immigration or for lawless DAs. You will be branded as "dealing in antisetmitic 'tropes,'" and censored.
We cannot have a rule that says that any group has a right to be free from hearing disagreeable speech.
Unless everyone thinks it's okay that white men get to enjoy this rule too -- which I know no one is willing to concede.
But as regards indulging leftist protesters' constant law-breaking -- no, they have no right to break the law. Just as no right-leaning people have the right to break any law when we protest. We get hounded to the ends of the earth and imprisoned for "parading." So pro-Hamas terrorist symps have no right to occupy the lands of others.
Below, an account identifying itself as "Palestinian Youth Movement" promises "Columbia Will Burn" if they actually follow through on their threat.