At least two anti-Israel protesters were arrested on Tuesday as masked demonstrators returned to Columbia University in New York City, ground zero for last semester’s most intense escalations.
On the first day of fall classes, a group of anti-Israel agitators splattered red paint all over the Columbia University Alma Mater statue, which was installed in 1903. Approximately 100 protesters stood outside a university entrance and chanted “Free Palestine” while calling for the school to divest from Israel, before moving outside Barnard College.
“This action is the first of many,” the activists said in a statement. “We will not stop until the university fully divests from all forms of settler-colonial violence.”
‘Repression breeds resistance’
The early intensity on campus may be a sign that the way last semester ended with wide-scale crackdowns on campus antisemitism, forceful occupations, and illegal encampments only emboldened anti-Israel groups to push the envelope.
Repression breeds resistance pic.twitter.com/2bcqY6GGeO
— National Students for Justice in Palestine (@NationalSJP) September 3, 2024
The national Students for Justice in Palestine X account posted an image of the vandalized Alma Mater statue with the caption, “Repression breeds resistance,” echoing a similar sentiment to what anti-Israel groups shared with the Washington Examiner in previewing their plans for fall campus protests.
“The administration will have no peace until they divest all holdings from weapons manufacturers and the Zionist entity,” the University of Chicago’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter said. “The university’s repression of pro-Palestine students only breeds resistance.”
“Crackdowns on protests have never worked and have instead just lead to more violence,” Colorado State University’s SJP chapter warned.
At the end of last semester, 282 anti-Israel agitators, including dozens of Columbia students, were arrested in New York City for their participation in the unrest. Thousands were arrested across the country as tensions escalated to violence. Columbia also suspended its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter following an “unauthorized” walkout in November.
A week before the new semester began, Columbia’s SJP chapter was banned from Instagram along with its backup account. The group said that when it tried to create a new account, it was deleted within two days.
In their statement, anti-Israel activists described their demands, which include divesting from “all forms of settler-colonial violence.” They said this “necessitates nothing short of the total collapse of the university structure and American empire itself … to undermine and eradicate America as we know it.” They described the goal of their effort as “extend[ing] the successes of the Palestinian resistance to the heart of the empire itself.”
The activists also “refuse to allow Columbia to return to a state of ‘normalcy'” because they claim that “‘normalcy’ is the structurally impelled displacement and eventual destruction of the Palestinian people.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Columbia University Students for Justice in Palestine for comment.
‘Not at all surprising’
StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice is a plaintiff in a Title VI lawsuit against Columbia University, alleging the school violated Jewish students’s civil rights through its “indifference to a pervasively hostile climate for Jews and Israelis.”
In reaction to the latest escalation, Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs, told the Washington Examiner, “It is unfortunate, but not at all surprising, that anti-Israel hatred and misinformation continue to be spread at Columbia at the beginning of the new school year.”
Rothstein added, “It appears that those who are crossing the line from protected demonstrations into unlawful conduct are thus far being held accountable, and we expect the authorities to continue enforcing applicable laws and policies to ensure that all students are not only physically safe but also fully able to participate in all campus programs and activities.”
“Anything less than such evenhanded enforcement will contribute to a hostile campus environment for which the administration should expect to be held accountable legally,” she warned.
Hundreds of alleged antisemitic incidents have been brought to light through Title VI actions, which have prompted over 100 investigations from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights into universities and school districts around the country since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. If civil rights violations are found, the government may choose to withdraw federal funding.
Anti-Israel groups bring ‘renewed energy’ to fall campus protests
Anti-Israel activists told the Washington Examiner that they would bring a “renewed energy” to campus in the fall, and they have kept their word. Shortly after one SJP chapter previewed its plans to protest the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the demonstrations escalated to violent unrest and led to several agitators being arrested.
At the University of Michigan, four protesters were arrested on the first week of school after an anti-Israel group attempted to disrupt a university event. Three were unaffiliated with the university, while the fourth was a temporary university employee. At the University of Pittsburgh, a group of Jewish students was attacked with a glass bottle as they returned to campus on Friday, leaving two injured.
BREAKING: Arrests made at the University of Michigan after police mobilized to stop a pro-Palestine demonstration at The Diag during Festifall on campus pic.twitter.com/xQPF3zYWGZ
— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) August 28, 2024
Apart from Tuesday’s protest at Columbia, tensions relating to the war in Gaza have been brought to light as the semester begins. During an Aug. 20 webinar promoted and broadcast by Columbia’s anti-Israel campus groups, an imam invited to speak encouraged students to “take out” an outspoken Jewish professor.
“That Shai Davidai guy,” said Tom Facchine, the imam. “How do we get him in trouble? How do we create a situation in which he’s in jeopardy? If you’re able to take out somebody like that and make an example, that might shut up a hundred more.”
In May, anti-Israel groups allegedly circulated a packet to incoming students titled “Glory to Gaza,” which expressed support for Hamas, called Israel a “Nazi occupation,” and glorified “martyrs,” such as Saleh al Arouri, deputy head of Hamas, who was killed in January.
According to an Aug. 30 report from the Columbia University Task Force on Antisemitism, “Israeli students found the pervasive hostility made it difficult to access necessary services, such as healthcare.”
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The report described an incident where one Israeli student said she overheard a discussion between two healthcare professionals in another room in which one allegedly said he or she would not treat her because she was Israeli after she had been waiting for care and nobody came.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Columbia and the school’s department of public safety for comment.