Tempers flared during dueling protests at college campuses across New York City on Thursday after Hamas’ shock attack against Israel five days ago — with supporters of Israel screaming that Palestinians are terrorists and pro-Palestine activists chanting that they would not “give in to imperialism.”
The demonstrations — one at CUNY’s Brooklyn College campus, another at Hunter College in Manhattan and a third at Columbia University — illuminated the sharp divides not only between Israel and the Palestinian territories, but their supporters here in the United States.
“No one should ever revel in somebody else’s murder,” David Brodsky, a professor of Judaic Studies at Brooklyn College, told The Post on Thursday as he held up a sign that read, “Must you revel in our murder?”
“When we lose that, society starts to crumble,” he added.
“That’s why we’re here.”
The pro-Palestine factions were equally vehement.
At Hunter College, hundreds showed up with Palestinian flags, wielding colorful posters and chanting slogans such as “Long live the intifada” and “From Puerto Rico to Palestine, occupation is a crime.”
“The root of the problem is that the Palestinian people are being occupied and [the Israelis] don’t care, and we [Americans] don’t care,” Karina Garcia, an educator and native New Yorker who spoke at the rally, told The Post.
“Israel wants to make themselves look like the victims,” Garcia said.
“There’s no way in any logical world that they are victims. They’re not victims, they’re funded by the US government.”
The pro-Israel folks yelled back that the Palestinians are terrorists; the pro-Palestine people booed them, then chanted that they would not give in to Zionism or imperialism.
“We will win!” they said.
The war of words — however ugly — was nothing compared to the war of guns and steel that has engulfed Israel since Hamas’ Saturday morning assault, which in turn sparked a brutal conflict that has already killed more than 1,000 people on each side and wounded countless others.
Israel vowed on Thursday not to pause its ever-tightening siege of the Gaza Strip until every one of its hostages has been released.
And the head of the Israel Defense Forces — which has already dropped 6,000 bombs on the impoverished sliver of land next to the Mediterranean Sea — has sworn to dismantle Hamas and make sure the Palestinian enclave will “never look the same.”
At Columbia University in Manhattan, a group of about 20 or 30 supporters of Israel gathered outside — as hundreds gathered in the school’s Low Library for a pro-Palestine demonstration.
“They were killed in cold blood — some of them were decapitated,“ one Israeli supporter told The Post, as others chanted, “This is our 9/11!”
“My sister’s boyfriend went to an EDM concert and was shot by three bullets,” said Jonathan Trojan-Greenberg, age 30.
“He didn’t get to the hospital,” he continued. “Hamas is worse than ISIS.”