Protesters at Columbia University chanted explicitly pro-terror slogans this week, calling for the killing of Israeli soldiers, as they occupied the campus illegally — even after a wave of arrests by the New York Police Department.
The video of the pro-terror chants, some of which were in Arabic, was captured by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Demonstrators called for Israeli soldiers to be killed and for Palestine to be “Arab” — free of Jews.
Participants at Columbia University Pro-Palestinian Protest Chant: Oh Al-Qassam Brigades, You Make Us Proud, Kill Another Soldier Now! Israel Will Fall! Palestine Is Arab! @Columbia pic.twitter.com/RxAy03B2fS
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) April 18, 2024
A photo emerged of one pro-Palestinian protester explicitly calling for the murder of pro-Israel counter-protesters, who were carrying American and Israeli flags.
Someone sent me this from Columbia tonight. Some Jewish students were holding Israeli and American flags so this girl stood in front of them with the below sign.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 21, 2024
Al-Qasam is the Hamas military wing.
They are openly pro-Hamas and threatening fellow students. pic.twitter.com/Eo5BaA7h70
The protests coincided with the congressional testimony last week of Columbia University President Nemat Shafik and other university officials about the problem of antisemitism on campus. All of them admitted it was a problem — but could not explain the lenient treatment given to students and others who had violated university policies.
Columbia has been a hotbed of student protest since the 1960s, when it was the first university at which students occupied an administration building to protest the Vietnam War. But it has been a specific center of anti-Israel radicalism since the era of radical Palestinian intellectual Edward Said, who worked at Columbia as a professor.
Despite being located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a disproportionately Jewish (and Dominican) area of Manhattan, Columbia has seen explicitly antisemitic protests since the Hamas terror attacks of October 7. On Friday, an Israeli professor posted video of Islamic prayers at the protests, suggesting the religious core of the demonstration.
The standoff at Columbia is expected to continue into this week.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
