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UPDATED: Columbia Faces Competing Protests and Alleged Assault of Israeli Student; Ramps Up Security

October 12, 2023 | 4:03 PM - Updated on October 13, 2023 | 1:27 AM
in CRIME, NEWS, SCHOOLS
21
A statue within the Columbia University Morningside Heights campus.

By Gus Saltonstall

Columbia University upped its security on Thursday, only allowing those with school IDs into the Morningside Heights campus. The move came after two groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Students Supporting Israel, prepared to hold simultaneous rallies on the campus this afternoon. It also followed an alleged assault Wednesday on an Israeli student who had been posting photos on campus of Israelis reportedly taken hostage when Hamas attacked Israel this week, according to news reports. 

The assault took place at about 5:40 p.m. Wednesday, when a 19-year-old woman allegedly attacked a 24-year-old Israeli student with a stick inside the 116th Street campus, according to media reports and police.

The victim reportedly confronted the woman after she was seen ripping down the fliers with names and photos of kidnapped Israelis, reported the Columbia Spectator. The attacker had helped put up those same posters earlier in the day and had told the group she was Jewish, the Spectator reported, but she was later seen ripping down the flyers while wearing a bandana over her face.

A confrontation ensued that left one of the students with a bruised hand and broken finger, according to reports.

An NYPD spokesperson confirmed to the West Side Rag that a 19-year-old woman had hit a 24-year-old man in the hand with a stick. She was taken into custody and charged with assault, police added.

Late Wednesday, hours after the attack, Columbia University Executive Vice President David M. Greenberg sent out an email to the school community — shared with the West Side Rag — stating that the Morningside Heights campus would only be open Thursday to people with valid school IDs.

“This condition is in place to help maintain safety and a sense of community through planned demonstration activities,” the email said.

The “demonstration activities” refer to a “Call to Action for Palestine” event, organized by Students for Justice in Palestine, and a simultaneous protest organized by the Students Supporting Israel group. Both of the events are planned to start within the campus at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.

“We are anticipating simultaneous protests by two groups this afternoon – Students for Justice in Palestine and Students Supporting Israel,” reads a second email sent Thursday afternoon to the Columbia University community by the school’s interim provost. “Substantial efforts were made to enlist the participation of outside supporters in a manner that risks creating an unsafe environment for our community. This is why we have limited our access today to CUID holders only.”

Update: Thursday, 6:45 p.m.: Hundreds of Columbia University students and affiliates took part in dueling protests Thursday afternoon within the school’s Morningside Heights campus.

Students for Justice in Palestine gathered on one side of the campus, while Students Supporting Israel demonstrated on the opposite side.

Columbia University right now. Opposing (and peaceful) protests on either side of the campus lawn. pic.twitter.com/RL994WaPfW

— Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) October 12, 2023

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21 Comments
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Sarah
Sarah
1 year ago

Probably for the best that they did this–help keep outside hotheads from making a tense situation worse.

16
Reply
Helicopters
Helicopters
1 year ago

Is this event the reason for the helicopters circulating around the UWS for a few hours late this afternoon?

5
Reply
Trish
Trish
1 year ago
Reply to  Helicopters

Yes and no. Columbia wasn’t allowing press on campus, so they hovered over campus instead.

1
Reply
TW Baskins
TW Baskins
1 year ago

Perhaps if the Students for Justice in Palestine distinguished themselves by condemning in the strongest terms Hamas’s brutal slaughter of women, children and babies, and then explained to the world how it is that Hamas was duly elected by Palestinians back in 2007in parliamentary elections and no elections have been held since, would be helpful. The concept of “resistance,” through lawful elections through a ballot box, is far less barbaric that placing innocent families in pine boxes for burial.

30
Reply
A.G
A.G
1 year ago
Reply to  TW Baskins

Using the ballot box for “resistance” is ineffective if it’s overseen and controlled by the oppressor. Voting in such conditions isn’t truly resistance, but rather a form of compliance.

0
Reply
RAL
RAL
1 year ago
Reply to  TW Baskins

None of us have a clue on what their message is/was. The fact is that people can also speak up about the situation of Palestinians without being “anti-Semitic” . Let’s not talk rubbish about lawful ballot boxes in the absence of context

5
Reply
Pedestrian
Pedestrian
1 year ago
Reply to  RAL

Hamas attacked a Music Festival. That is the context.

14
Reply
S G
S G
1 year ago
Reply to  RAL

It’s not rubbish at all. If the assumption (which I agree with) is that not all Palestinians support Hamas and/or are not anti-Semitic, than it’s a very valid question about how the Palestinians elected a terrorist organization and have allowed it to subvert fee elections for 16 years.

7
Reply
TW Baskins
TW Baskins
1 year ago
Reply to  RAL

Where is the “absence of context,” and why would anyone not have a “clue on what their message is/was?” The Palestinians in Gaza duly elected Hamas as their ruling authority and whose charter directs the killing of Jews, drawing on a hadith (prophetic saying): “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.’” Sounds pretty clear.

12
Reply
Trish
Trish
1 year ago
Reply to  TW Baskins

Very well said.

4
Reply
mark
mark
1 year ago

Looks like someone is (hopefully) getting themselves expelled from Columbia. Assault is most likely a serious breach of the student code of conduct.

9
Reply
Joe
Joe
1 year ago
Reply to  mark

The assault was done by a non student from Brooklyn who came to campus to start trouble. No one expelled.

7
Reply
Will
Will
1 year ago

Close the campus to non student troublemakers.

2
Reply
Moshe
Moshe
1 year ago

The pro-Hamas reactions on American college campuses (particularly Harvard & Columbia) are sickening. Wokeness is about to lose a lot of its allure among the Left, me thinks.

16
Reply
Sam
Sam
1 year ago
Reply to  Moshe

They are not pro Hamas. They are pro Palestinian people. There is a huge difference. There are many many more Muslims in the US than Jews. So this reaction in the US should not be surprising.

4
Reply
Bloomie
Bloomie
1 year ago
Reply to  Moshe

Support for Hamas should be given no cover under the woke umbrella. Terrorists have no place in woke America.

4
Reply
Anna
Anna
1 year ago
Reply to  Moshe

God, I hope so.
Wokeness is a blight on intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate discussion. Woke people choose their side and then they’re done thinking. Gray area? Complexity? The common humanity of all? Nope.

7
Reply
Will
Will
1 year ago
Reply to  Moshe

You can be pro-Palestine without being an ardent supporter of Hamas. Just like you can be against antisemitism while also against Zionism.

14
Reply
Just the observer
Just the observer
1 year ago
Reply to  Will

Sure you can be pro-Palestinian and against Hamas. To show that all you need to do is state in clear terms that you condemn cutting throats of Jewish people and raping their women. The pro-Palestinian rallies we see across the cities and campuses celebrate the massacre. So, what you say is demagogical.

14
Reply
Ergo
Ergo
1 year ago

I’m guessing it swings back fast. Israel is about to flatten half of Gaza. That’s going to leave tens of thousands of dead women and children. BBC will broadcast it all every day.

1
Reply
GenderX
GenderX
1 year ago

It has been deeply moving to see the countless Muslim leaders offer their support to the Jewish community and say with moral clarity that the murderous attacks by Hamas do not speak for Muslims as a whole.

1
Reply

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