Keffiyeh-Clad Man Arrested for Attempting to Assault Pro-Israel Marchers outside Columbia

New York — A man covering his face with a keffiyeh was arrested Thursday night after attempting to assault pro-Israel marchers at a rally just outside Columbia University’s campus in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.

National Review spoke with two demonstrators — both Israel Defense Forces (IDF) veterans — who filed reports with New York Police Department (NYPD) officers on the scene.

“We saw this guy — wearing a mask, of course — waving a little pig toy at us, basically saying we’re all pigs. We tried to talk to him, saying, ‘What’s up? Why are you covering your face?’ He started saying ‘come at me, come at me,’ and we headed away,” one of the two IDF veterans, who wished to remain anonymous, told NR, adding that the man in the keffiyeh then began shoving pro-Israel marchers.

“At one point, I saw him grabbing a pole. I charged over and grabbed it out of his hands before he could hit anyone with it, and then the cops picked him up right away,” he told NR. “We’re not looking for a fight, but we’re not going to let someone like that attack Jews.”

Before he was subdued, the man raised the metal pole, preparing to hit pro-Israel marchers, multiple demonstrators who witnessed the incident told NR.

A team of about a dozen police officers led the man into the back of an NYPD van before leaving the site of the march. This episode was the only violent incident NR observed on Thursday night, and an NYPD officer confirmed to NR that there were no incidents stemming from the behavior of the pro-Israel demonstrators.

The pro-Israel protesters, drawing a stark contrast between their rally and the anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses across the United States, waved both American and Israeli flags and chanted not for violence but for the release of the hostages still held in Hamas’s Gaza tunnels.

Vivace Maxvictor, an Iranian-American Jewish woman, told NR the message she hoped people would take away from the march is that the hostages currently in Hamas captivity must be brought home.

“Everyone who’s standing in those encampments must understand that we have five U.S. hostages in captivity,” Maxvictor said,”and everyone needs to know their names: Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Sagui Dekel-Chen, and Keith Samuel Siegel”

Asked what message she would like to send to Columbia president Minouche Shafik, Maxvictor said, “I would like her to step the f**k down. Those exact words.”

Another pro-Israel protester, a Columbia alumnus who wished to remain anonymous, told NR he had a great college experience and was horrified to see the state of his former campus after October 7.

“I marched with the students on October 12, and that’s when I was confronted with genocidal chants for the first time, you know, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “globalize the intifada,'” he said. “I was stunned, especially in light of the fact that Israel had not even invaded Gaza at that point.”

The alumnus said it is clear to him that the student activists do not just oppose the existence of the state of Israel but the U.S. as well.

“This has really lifted the veil and brought to the fore the intense vitriol out there not only toward the Jewish community but Americans as well,” he told NR. “They’re burning American flags along with Israeli ones, and when I hear cheering for the Houthis while our navy is currently engaged in fighting them, it’s very disconcerting.”

Meanwhile, behind the gates to Columbia’s campus, university president Minouche Shafik has yet to disperse the encampment taking over Columbia’s main lawn. In an email sent to the university community late Thursday night, Shafik said that talks between the administration and the encampment organizers “have shown progress and are continuing as planned.”

“For several days, a small group of faculty, administrators, and University Senators have been in dialogue with student organizers to discuss the basis for dismantling the encampment, dispersing, and following University policies going forward. We have our demands; they have theirs. A formal process is underway and continues,” Shafik wrote. “There is a rumor that the NYPD has been invited to campus this evening. This rumor is false.”