Some 4,000 students, their parents, faculty members, alumni of Columbia University signed a letter addressed to President Minouche Shafik, demanding pro-Palestinian protesters be removed from campus. Shafik’s ultimatum for the students to vacate their tents on campus was extended from midnight on Tuesday New York time, has been given until 8 a.m. (3 p.m. Israel time)on Wednesday.
In the letter, seen by Ynet, the signatories called on the president and the university administration to dismiss staff members who supported the protests claiming some even forced students to participate. In the letter, they also demanded to provide Jewish students and staff with security guards to accompany them to classes.
“The situation on campus continues to escalate. There are reports of death threats, calls for violence, physical assault of students and stealing of their property, explicit support of terrorist organizations, and calls for ethnic cleansing. These invocations have occurred with frequency both within and beyond the campus walls,” the letter read.
“Moreover, there is video evidence of people who are presumably unaffiliated and/or disinvited individuals sneaking into (or being snuck onto) campus. There are eyewitness accounts of students and faculty promoting some of these activities on social media. Students relay being afraid to report individuals and conduct for fear of retaliation from the individuals engaged in these violence-promoting activities.”
The letter also describes a series of incidents that took place on campus in recent days. “A student held up a sign reading ‘Al Qassam Brigade’s next target’ pointing to Jewish students peacefully singing the Israeli National anthem; an Israeli Arab journalist, Yoseph Haddad, was physically assaulted just outside the Columbia gates; a Jewish student was hit, shoved, and had his Israeli flag burned.”
The letter added, “Among the chants and posters observed over the past several days on and adjacent to campus: ‘We don’t want no Zionists here,’; ‘There is only one solution, Intifada revolution,’; ‘From the water to the water, Palestine is Arab,’; ‘Al Qasam you make us proud, kill another soldier now’; ‘Yes Hamas, we love you! We support your rockets too.’”
The signatories also described how some staff members moved their lectures to the university’s lawns, as an act of support for the pro-Palestinian protests, forcing students to participate in them. “This seems to suggest that students must engage in disobedience and ideological endorsement to access educational opportunities.”
One of the signatories, Prof. Gil Zussman, told Ynet, "The Jewish and Israeli community on campus and around it is forced to maintain a routine in a hostile and threatening environment, which doesn’t align with the values of the university and federal laws."
"We - thousands of faculty members, staff, students, alumni, and residents of the area - Jews and non-Jews - appeal to President Shafik to continue enforcing the rules and return to a state where Jews and Israelis can conduct themselves with peace and security on campus like any other group," he added.
Columbia University began feeling the financial damage of the protests on Monday when one of its major donors, Robert Kraft, announced he was pulling his support of the university. Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots football team, has donated tens of millions of dollars to Columbia.
In a statement released, Kraft wrote, “I am deeply saddened at the virulent hate that continues to grow on campus and throughout our country. I am no longer confident that Columbia can protect its students and staff and I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken."
Assaults at Yale University
Meanwhile, students at Yale University established 40 tents at the university’s Beinecke Plaza in a pro-Palestinian protest asking to support the one ongoing at Columbia University. Protestors chant anti-Israel slogans and demand Yale heads reveal the names of American Military-industrial complex companies that the company funds that deliver weapons to Israel.
The relatively calm protest turned violent on Saturday after two Jewish students were assaulted by protestors, leading to one of them being evacuated to the hospital.
"I was the first Jewish student attacked in Yale, but I won't be the last," Sahar Tartak recounted. According to Tartak's account, backed by video footage, she and another student named Netanel, a Jew wearing a black hat and tzitzit, were blocked when they tried to document the protest. "They stood in front of us with clenched fists, shouting at us wherever we went. One of them shouted rap lyrics with the words 'to hell with Israel' to Netanel’s face."
One protester wearing a Palestine flag attacked her, she said and she was taken to the hospital. "The protest, the tents, the violence - all of this violates Yale's policy, but nothing happens in response," Tartak said. "On the contrary, the anti-Jewish intimidation machine has received unprecedented support this week."
On Monday, dozens of students who refused to leave their tents were arrested. Studies at Yale continue as usual, and the university hopes things won’t escalate in the remaining weeks of the academic year.
“I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that,” U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday.
First published: 13:01, 04.24.24