Pro-Palestinian protesters outside Columbia University late Saturday night openly advocated for Hamas terrorism against Israel, yelling “Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!” as well as other pro-violence slogans.
Heated protests have roiled Columbia’s campus in the last week. New York City police arrested 108 anti-Israel activists on Thursday after the university’s president asked law enforcement to step in and break up the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” Dozens of protester tents occupied campus for over 24 hours, which the university deemed a safety concern and a violation of university policies.
“We say justice, you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!,” protesters shouted Saturday night, according to footage posted by Israel War Room.
More absolute insanity out of @Columbia tonight.
“Al-Qassam you make us proud! Take another soldier out!”
“We say justice, you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!”
“Hamas we love you. We support your rockets too!”
“Red, black, green, and white, we support Hamas’ fight!”
“It… pic.twitter.com/er1kSyEX5z— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) April 21, 2024
“Al-Qassam you make us proud! Take another soldier out!,” was also heard at the demonstration. The al-Qassam Brigades is Hamas’s military wing that perpetrated the brutal attacks against Israel on October 7.
Protesters screamed, “Hamas, we love you! We support your rockets, too!” and “Red, black, green, and white, we support Hamas’ fight!”
“It is right to rebel, Al-Qassam, give them hell!,” they said.
The Orthodox Rabbi at Columbia/Barnard urged over 290+ Jewish students Sunday morning to go home until the campus unrest settles down, according to a What’sApp message obtained by CNN anchor Jake Tapper.
In response to “horrific” scenes of antisemitic harassment at and around campus, the Orthodox Rabbi at Columbia/Barnard sent a WhatsApp message to more than 290+ Jewish students this morning recommending that they go home until it’s safe again for them on campus: pic.twitter.com/uqAntEICLv
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 21, 2024
“The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy,” Rabbi Elie Buechler wrote. “It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus.”
The mass protests last week forced Columbia University to close its doors to the public. The protest was held as Columbia president Minouche Shafik testified before Congress. Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) asked Shafik during the hearing whether she had seen anti-Jewish protests on Columbia’s campus, to which the university president responded that she had not.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest, in addition to organizing the encampment, called for students to gather outside the area of the lawn to prevent police from entering and led chants calling for “intifada revolution” and for Hamas to “kill another soldier now.”
NYPD officers in riot gear arrived on campus Thursday afternoon, more than 30 hours after the protest began, and warned protesters to disperse several times before they began making arrests for trespassing. Two protesters were charged with obstruction of governmental administration in addition to trespassing, city officials said at a news conference.
Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), was handcuffed and escorted away by police at the scene. She later wrote on X that she had been suspended from Barnard College as a result of her involvement with anti-Israel protests.
Earlier on Thursday, Shafik announced that she had “authorized” the NYPD to engage because of the scale of the disruption.
“I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances,” she said in an email to the campus community. “The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies.