On Thursday night, a line of protesters wearing keffiyehs quietly emerged from Columbia University's Jewish Center during an event featuring a prominent Israeli reporter as an anti-Israel mob demonstrated outside the building.
footage of confusion Around a dozen protesters wearing Palestinian headscarves were shown emerging from the Jewish Student Life Craft Center holding placards as Axios journalist Barak Rabid addressed students.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest, an anti-Israel coalition, accused Rabid of being an “agent of genocide” and criticized Ivy League school leaders for allowing Rabid to speak on campus in an online post. .
CUAD also called on Columbia University and its sister school, Barnard, to sever ties with Hillel, a Jewish campus group based at the Craft Center.
Footage showed agitators outside the craft center beating drums and chanting, “More than 100,000 people dead, Hillel, your hands are red.” Posted in X.
additional video One student's post showed protesters yelling, “Please know we're coming back to Hillel.”
Jewish students condemned Thursday's protests.
“Hillel is the largest Jewish organization on campuses across the country,” said student Eden Yadeger. tweeted. “This is not activism, this is horrific anti-Semitism.”
“Protesters at Columbia University have made their intentions clear. This will not be an easy year for Jewish students on campus,” student Eliana Goldin posted online.
Business professor Shai Davidai also criticized elite schools.
“As a @Columbia University professor, it pains me to see how little this administration cares about Jewish students (even though they love the tuition),” the Israeli native says wrote on social media.
Colombia condemns anti-Israel protests in a statement Thursday.
“Any attempt to intimidate the Craft Center, Hillel, or the Jewish community, and anti-Semitism in any form is unacceptable and goes against our university's ethos,” the school said in a statement.
“Home to the vibrant Hillel at Columbia and Barnard, the Craft Center for Jewish Student Life is an important part of our campus and a place where students explore and celebrate Jewish culture and identity. “We provide a welcoming space,” the university said.
“We are grateful to the Craft Center and Hillel for their significant contributions to supporting the Jewish community and building the university community.”
