Student agitators at Columbia University began the spring semester by attacking an Israeli history class, according to a video program.
According to accounts and videos shared with He said he threw it at the student.
Messages on the flyers included “The enemy cannot see tomorrow,” “Burn down Zionism,” and “Crush Zionism,” according to an image shared by Rishi Baker, Class of 2026.
“Today is…the first day of Modern Israel History @Colombia and masked protesters simply barging in to intimidate and disrupt,” the student wrote. “So much for 'academic freedom'. Welcome to the Columbia of 2025!”
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The photo shows a poster handed out to students by anti-Israel protesters during a modern Israeli history class on Tuesday. (@LishiBaker from X)
Video of the incident shows Avi Shiron, a visiting professor at the school's Institute for Israeli and Jewish Studies, asking the students to leave as other students can be seen returning their flyers. There is.
“This is a civil rights violation,” one student said. “We're trying to learn.”
One of the protesters began reading the script. “We bring you the inside scoop on Columbia University’s normalization of genocide.”
Baker, who studies Middle Eastern history at the school, said: Washington Free Beacon He said the incident left him “very upset.”
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One student in the class said he was “very upset” by the incident. (@LishiBaker from X)
“Not only am I paying a lot of money to come here, but I actually want to be in class, and this school has no interest in learning, no interest in class, and intentionally “It's destructive and coercive,” he added.
Chiron told the magazine that he was torn between a desire to “protect.” [his] students,” but “didn't want to provoke the protesters too much.”
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Anti-Israel demonstrators demonstrate in front of Columbia University on Tuesday, September 3, in New York City. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)
“We will learn the story of one Palestinian and two Israelis,” he told the outlet shortly before protesters stormed into the classroom.
“It didn't discourage me; on the contrary, it made me feel that it was very important to have Israel taught and studied by a real historian who is in his field,” Chiron told the outlet. Ta.
The class will focus on the demographics that “shape Israel's political and social structure,” including “the Palestinian people of Israel,” from the state's founding to the present, according to the online description of Shiron's course. Exploring Israeli politics.
Columbia University interim president Katrina Armstrong said the university “strongly condemns” the move.[s] This confusion and the same goes for flyers containing violent images that are unacceptable on our campuses and in our communities. ”
“No student group has the right to disrupt other student groups in Columbia classrooms. Disrupting academic activities is a violation of the university's rules of conduct and, depending on the nature of the disruption, other university policies. may be violated,” Professor Armstrong wrote. statement.
“We will investigate this conduct and take swift action to address it. Anti-Semitism, or any other form of discrimination, harassment, or intimidation against members of our community is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. I want to be absolutely clear.”
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On campus, participants from the Columbia University Deapartheid Group and the school's Palestine Justice student chapter protested in support of “Palestinian Liberation Beyond a Ceasefire,” blocking road traffic as they marched outside the university. was blocked.
The Free Beacon reported that among the phrases spray-painted across campus the night before was “Gaza rises, falls into Columbia Falls.”
