Jewish students warned by rabbi to stay off Columbia campus while pro-Hamas protests rage on
A prominent rabbi at Columbia University issued a dire directive on Sunday, warning Jewish students to leave and not return to campus until the infamous anti-Israel student-led protests are resolved, citing fears about “extreme antisemitism” being tolerated at the Ivy League institution.
The warning comes after student groups established an anti-Israel autonomous zone on campus in support of Gaza earlier this week, which has been inundated with violent pro-Hamas demonstrations and no official intervention from the school administration. The students asserted that they refused to leave until “Palestine is free.”
Rabbi Elie Buechler felt compelled to deliver the directive to Jewish students after what had been permitted to occur on and around campus over the last week, the New York Post reported.
“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 Buechler told students Sunday morning via WhatsApp.
“It deeply pains me to say that I would strongly recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved,” he added.
“It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus. No one should have to endure this level of hatred, let alone at school.”
Video footage taken at Columbia University shows anti-Israel student clubs and protesters openly supporting the Palestinian Hamas terror group, causing panic among Jewish students, professors, and community members.
On Friday, protesters marched in the streets of NYC near the university while chanting support for Al-Qassam, which is the military wing responsible for the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.
The pro-terror chants included “Al-Qassam, you make us proud, take another soldier out,” “We say justice, you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground,” and “Hamas, we love you. We support your rockets too.”
Columbia University professor Shai Davidai, who leads the university’s antisemitic task force, strongly condemned the protests and the university’s response to them.
Davidai delivered a speech to a group of people in Central Park on Sunday and said, “Last night, what you saw at Columbia University, is open support for Hamas.”
“While US citizens are being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas and by the Islamic jihad, you have students at Columbia University, and faculty at Columbia University, who are cheering on Hamas,” he said.
“Columbia’s administration not only won’t do anything about it, they are refusing to let the NYPD in. They are letting the terrorists in and keeping the NYPD out,” he added.
Additional protest video footage showed a masked extremist holding up a sign that called for Hamas to kill a group of Jewish students standing behind her.
These are only a few examples of the many extreme incidents that have recently occurred on campus.
On Sunday, the White House condemned the “antisemitic” incidents unfolding at Columbia University and released a statement on the matter.
“While every American has the right to peaceful protect, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly Antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous – they have absolutely no place on any college campus, or anywhere in the United States of America,” said Andrew Bates, White House Deputy Press Secretary.
“And echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms,” he concluded.