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Pro-Palestinian Rally Protests Columbia’s Suspension of Two Student Groups

November 16, 2023 | 2:45 PM - Updated on November 17, 2023 | 5:56 AM
in NEWS
28
Photo Credit: Jordan Coll

By Jordan Coll

Scores of protestors marched outside the gates of Columbia University on Wednesday, denouncing the Ivy League institution’s recent suspension of two student-led groups — a move seen by the pro-Palestinian protestors as “outright shameful” and “oppressive.”

The crowd at the rally included some Columbia faculty, students, and staff, as well as protestors not affiliated with the university.

The protest ended in front of the university’s main entrance. The rally, under the name “All Out for Gaza,” was organized by Within our Lifetime, a New York City-based pro-Palestinian activist group, and the Jewish Law Students Association of the City University of New York.

The rally comes after a recent series of letters and announcements of new task forces at the school. Columbia administrators have also sought to respond to incidents of doxxing and other harassment of students on or near campus. But the university’s announcement last week suspending two pro-Palestinian student groups set off fresh protests this week.

The groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, were both suspended on November 10 for at least the rest of the fall semester.

Gerald Rosberg, senior executive vice president of Columbia University and chair of the Special committee on Campus Safety, said in a statement on Friday that both organizations “repeatedly violated University policies related to holding campus events.” Rosberg’s statement cited a walkout organized by the groups on November 9 was not authorized and “proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation.”

Following the suspension, the two groups put out a statement on Instagram, accusing the university of “selective censorship.” The suspension, they said,  was “an attack on free speech to distract from and enable Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people.”

Also this week, over 40 student organizations at the university announced a coalition and signed onto a petition urging the university to divest all economic and academic interests in Israel, according to an op-ed published in the Columbia Spectator. 

A petition also put out by Columbia and Barnard alumni condemned the institution for the suspension of student chapters, calling the actions “a repression of freedom of speech.”

Wednesday’s protest was the latest sign of tensions at Columbia sparked by the Israel-Hamas war, after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack in which some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed and more than 240 were taken hostage. According to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilian and militant deaths, Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes have killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children.

Jewish Rabbis from Neturei Karta, an international ultra-Orthodox, anti-Zionist group who attended the rally, held banners that read “Authentic Rabbis always opposed Zionism and the State of Israel” and  “State of ‘Israel’ does not represent world Jewry.”

“The university is a place where you are learning how to critique the world around you and learning how to have a critical lens on the world,” said Ilana Silverstein, a Jewish American, who is a staff administrator at the university’s school of nursing. “Learning that in the classroom and having the university tell you that it cannot be put to practice is simply two-faced.”

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Pedestrian
Pedestrian
1 year ago

Hamas has a public goal of killing Jews. They say that they will keep up their attacks until Israel is no more. They don’t care how many Palestinians die as long as they kill Jews. The students and rabbis need to listen to what HAMAS is saying before they pretend HAMAS cares a wit for peace or the Palestinian people.

51
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Steve
Steve
1 year ago

You want any more proof of the toxic, morally bankrupt effect of “religion” today and in the history of the world, look no further.

More people have been murdered in the name of religions than any thing else in the world.

All dogma, bigotry, corruption and intolerance with zero spiritually .

18
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Malin
Malin
1 year ago

J”ewish Rabbis from Neturei Karta, an international ultra-Orthodox, anti-Zionist group” – it’s a sect NOT recognized by mainstream Judaism. It makes living by renting itself to any and all antisemitic & anti-Israel gathering, including in Iran. It’s like saying that Westbro sect is a Christian group. Neturei Karta’s presence alone tells Jews that the gathering is devoutly anti-Jews. Do your research. DO YOUR RESEARCH.

47
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Bill Williams
Bill Williams
1 year ago

This isn’t about Israel or Hamas. Ilana Silverstein who is quoted in the article articulates the real issue in the last paragraph. Are we a country that values free speech and the unfettered exchange of ideas or are we a country that only wants to talk about the things we agree with?

The recent phenomenon of the suppression of speech becasue of people’s feelings and therefore the need for “safe spaces” that grew out of college campuses over the last decade with the subsequent vilification, doxing, etc. of people that espoused the wrong ideas or supported the wrong political candidates has now come home to roost for many.

Either you believe in free speech or you don’t. This is an interesting video that addresses the topic that was made close to a decade ago:
https://youtu.be/x5uaVFfX3AQ

15
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Anthony
Anthony
1 year ago
Reply to  Bill Williams

well, at this point it is clear that college campuses are not forums for free speech (nor is the First Amendment implicated). The students cancel anything that isn’t 100% consistent with ultra-woke orthodoxy, violently protest barely controversial speakers, and hound students not only for expressing wrong views but for not sufficiently resisting what they view as controversial speech.

So yes, it’s entirely consistent that the CU did this. If some Columbia group hypothetically was speaking out against BLM, would it do anything differently? Universities have cancelled speakers for questioning whether transgenderism surgery for teens is a good idea after protests. They cave to those who are offended by the wrong pronoun or because someone refuses to say “pregnant persons”.

If universities want to become hands-off, not clearly endorsing ultra “progressive” views only, and caving to what the ultra woke want, then fine. but starting this now, in reaction to the current issues makes it seem like it is endorsing one side (the anti Israeli side)

Also, a University first and foremost owes its students physical safety, and I don’t see anything wrong with them saying a certain situation is simply too combustible to allow campus protests on it.

Some of the signs and chants, like by any means necessary, and from the “river to the sea” are understandably threatening to jewish students, who pay a lot of $$ to go there.

4
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Janice
Janice
1 year ago
Reply to  Bill Williams

Free speech is one thing, but violent protests are another. Notice all the pro Israel marches are peaceful. These protestors are threatening Jewish Students and that is what the school is reacting to. You can’t demand peace with violence, ripping down signs of hostages claiming it is propaganda. That is what Jews are dealing with .This is not about free speech, it has always been about threats of violence.

14
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Bill Williams
Bill Williams
1 year ago
Reply to  Janice

The groups were not “threatening students” and the reasons for the bans were made clear by administrators as reported in this article. Simply protesting or even advocating for the end of the Israeli state no matter how distasteful is not a direct threat to students any more than people advocating flattening Gaza and eliminating Hamas is a threat to students. Speech is not violence and the limits of speech and protest have been very clearly outlined by the First Amendment and the SCOTUS decisions including Brandenburg.

8
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UWS home
UWS home
1 year ago
Reply to  Bill Williams

These groups were not banned, they were suspended for the remaining one month of fall semester for breaking the university policies such as occupying school facilities without following school guidelines, disrupting classes, and intimidating Jewish organizations on campus and saying vile things. Yes, regrettably free speech is allowing them to say these things but we should be outraged and not applaud it. I also think if we are ok to call support for murdering innocent people is a good thing under the notion of free speech and again it is ok not to call it out it or condemn it when it should be. The university has the right to call this out as something they do not want to support and condemn. Imagine if this kind of student organizing would be held outside a black student organization on campus and would say vile things against blacks in the name of free speech? It is not something people should be fighting for to preserve or applaud. And if they were doing that by disrupting classes, administrators, and other properties on campus, then as a matter of school policy they ARE Not ALLOWED to do so and should be suspended and banned for violating it.

1
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Boris
Boris
1 year ago
Reply to  Bill Williams

Universities are not governments when it comes to First Amendment protections.

2
Reply
Marty
Marty
1 year ago
Reply to  Bill Williams

So where are you on the whole yelling fire or gun in a packed theater? Still all in on free speech means no limits on anything ever.

2
Reply
Bill Williams
Bill Williams
1 year ago
Reply to  Marty

This example is often used and misunderstood. It was not part of a decision and the decision where it was referenced was overturned by Brandenburg V Ohio.

3
Reply
neighbor785
neighbor785
1 year ago
Reply to  Marty

Oliver Wendell Holmes’ dictum was against yelling fire “falsely” in a crowded theater.

2
Reply
Reality Can Be Hard
Reality Can Be Hard
1 year ago

I wish we could stop labeling these protesters as “pro-Palestinian”. In fact, they are not that. They are pro-Hamas and anti-Jew.
I am a Jew. I am a Zionist. I am also pro-Palestinian.
But I would never march in support of murderers of Jews.

38
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Leon
Leon
1 year ago
Reply to  Reality Can Be Hard

Exactly. If they don’t lead with “what Hamas did was horrible” then I am not listening to another word they say.

And though Israel is far from perfect, now is not the time for divesting from Israel. And this is particularly ironic because there are numerous Palestinians who live happily in Israel. if they are truly “pro-Palestinian” then this is hypocritical.

Columbia is trying hard to manage this situation but there are a lot of Jewish students (and others) who were planning to apply to Columbia this year who have changed their minds. I’m guessing there are some people who are thrilled by this, but this is not good.

18
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Shawna
Shawna
1 year ago

Not a pogrom yet, but getting there …. https://nypost.com/2023/11/16/news/pro-palestinian-protesters-intimidated-cashiers-at-morton-williams-owner-says/

11
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AnnieNYC
AnnieNYC
1 year ago

The line between free speech and hate speech can be tested in times of righteous indignation and perceived moral high ground. Criticizing decisions and action – even and perhaps especially during war – is one thing; cornering, attacking, harassing, and targeting whole groups of people as part of one’s ‘agenda’ is a whole other thing. Calls for justice and calls for care and worry for all civilian lives are one thing. Calls for an annihilation of a People and an amplification of a an agenda of a terror organization is another. When a call for supposed peace becomes conflated with a political agenda that cancels another group’s rights altogether, denies atrocities and sees only one side as the absolute and eternal victim and another side as a total absolute perpetrator; it moves from a protest for real peace, to a protest that requires hate and ‘othering.’ The latter may be what the Universities are pushing against, whether I agree that suspending is the right move or not. These are certainly difficult times. More compassion toward ALL suffering may fare better than picking only one group’s suffering as the only one to protest against. Pain is not a zero sum game.

14
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Otis
Otis
1 year ago

These protesters will never accept Israel’s existence in any way, shape or form. Nor are they condemning the Hamas atrocities of October 7th (in fact, most likely justify these atrocities).

This is not being “pro-Palestinian”. This is outright antisemitism.

If the KKK wanted to March through the Columbia campus and this was denied would anyone call this a “repression of freedom of speech”?

Jewish alumni – and all decent people – should reconsider their donations to Columbia and all universities that countenance hate filled organizations like the ones leading this “pro-Palestinian” rally.

19
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Will
Will
1 year ago

I just want to make sure it’s clear to readers here that Israel’s taking of Palestinian land has nothing to do with Judaism and everything to do with colonialism. There are plenty of people from Israel who believe in taking Palestinian land by any means necessary that don’t practice any organized religion. Israel is a country first and not a space explicitly representing the Jewish faith, it isn’t 1947 anymore. A lot has changed with how Israeli nationals identify themselves.

What Israel is doing in the name of Zionism is essentially their version of Manifest Destiny and it’s a red herring to claim speaking out against this is about antisemitism. Palestinians aren’t against Jewish people, they are against colonial power and loss of their homeland. Protestors can be against the genocide committed by one of the largest nuclear weapon holding super powers in the world taking land from a marginalized group of people without it being antisemitic.

16
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Josh
Josh
1 year ago
Reply to  Will

UWS Home did a nice job explaining the colonization aspect. One thing to add- in 1948, the land of Israel was divided among those who were living there. The partition gave Israel less land than they currently have, and they were totally happy with it. But Arabs who lived in the area, both inside and outside the partition, asked the Arab League to take all of the land for them. So the armies of the neighboring Arab countries attacked Israel with the intent of destroying it. But Israel won the war, and won more land in the process. Not a single Arab resident would have had to leave their homes if there was not a war. The refugees are not in their homes because of a war the Arabs caused.

Also, in response to your claim of genocide. First and foremost, the only people in the land of Israel who have ever experienced genocide are the Jews during the Holocaust. Secondly, if Israel actually was going to commit genocide against the Palestinians, well, I heard a great quote the other day: “If Israel did not care about the lives of Palestinian civilians, the war in Gaza would have been over on October 8th.” Along those same lines, if Israel was committing genocide, there would be no Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank. Another great quote “If Hamas put down their guns, there would be PEACE. If Israel put down their guns, there would be no Israel.”

There are Jewish settlers in the West Bank that wish to take land from Palestinians. But most Israelis and most of us around the world do not agree with them. Most Zionists, most Israelis, most Jews, believe that Palestinians should have their own state and that settlements should not take land from the Palestinians. But people who don’t actually know enough about the situation, yet are very vocal about their own opinions, make it seem like the majority of Zionists, Israelis, Jews, etc. are that small minority that wants to expand the settlements. And then other people who don’t know enough about the situation then take that and form their own opinions based on this misinformation as well.

5
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Anthony
Anthony
1 year ago
Reply to  Will

what you are saying only applies tot he settlers taking over land in WB. yes, many are against that, and should be. but Zionism is the notion that Israel has a right to exist.

Israelis aren’t colonialists. they are indisputably indigenous, as are the Arab Palestinians. the historical Palestine was larger than Israel, it included a lot of Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The West Bank was Jordan until 1967, Gaza was Egypt. Then they attacked and tried to destroy Israel.

Arguments can be made against Israeli aggression in the settlements to be sure, but viewing this through the Western-colonialist lens is simply wrong. The Israelis aren’t interlopers from thousands of miles like the Spanish in the Americas. Most Israelis are Mizrahi, meaning of Arab and Mediterranean descent, and the European jews were in Europe after being sent there (Iberian peninsula mostly, and also Rome) by the Romans as slaves 2000 years ago.

this is like a dispute between the Sioux and the Pawnee over what is now MInnessotta. You may think one side has a better moral claim, but to call one colonialist is simply wrong. it’s a dispute between 2 indigeneous peoples.

6
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UWS home
UWS home
1 year ago
Reply to  Will

Will, please do your research. What you state is not true unless you want to say things deliberately to misinform and name call. Palestine is a land that had many different people and was under British mandate after the Ottoman empire ruled it. The people who lived there live in Egypt, Syria, Israel, and Jordan. For example, Jordan did not exist before 1945. It became a state then and is on the part of the land that was called “East Palestine”, not Palestinian. No-one is going around calling for Jordan to be eliminated from the map and to mass murder the people who live there. So please understand what you say, when you say colonialism. Israel is not based on a colonialism and, half or so of the people in Israel are from the region and are indigenous to Israel, and there are 2 million arabs that live in Israel proper as well. America is a actually a settler country. You don’t see mass protests for wiping America off the map. Please understand history and call out those who misrepresent and misguide. I won’t go into dissecting the rest of the statements you are making which are also inaccurate.

9
Reply
Reality Can Be Hard
Reality Can Be Hard
1 year ago
Reply to  Will

Will, I urge you to learn what the word “colonialism” means. It’s an actual word with a specific definition. Rather than parrot what you are being fed, educate yourself.
While you’re at it, please learn the definition of “genocide” and “Zionism”.

11
Reply
Get a Grip
Get a Grip
1 year ago
Reply to  Reality Can Be Hard

Read the writings of the early Zionists a hundred years ago. They explicitly talk about ‘colonizing’ Palestine

5
Reply
UWS home
UWS home
1 year ago
Reply to  Get a Grip

Where have you seen this and from where? since it is out of context. You say a 100 years ago so this is before the state of Israel was created. The reason for wanting to create an official state of Israel, is because the Jews coming there were indigenous to the land and continued to exist there. The land Palestine included other current territories in the Middle east besides Israel, including those who lived in a part of Syria, Egypt and Jordan today which was East Palestine. If you are speaking of history 100 years ago, some of the founding Jews were escaping pogroms in Eastern Europe, Russia, and other places and wanting to live in peace in Israel. The same should have happened for Palestinians who lived there but they did not want to have this statehood if Israel (and the Jews) were there.

3
Reply
Bill Pearlman
Bill Pearlman
1 year ago
Reply to  Will

I guess kidnapping holocaust survivors and cooking babies in ovens. That really isn’t antisemitic. Just a blow for intersectionality.

12
Reply
Janice
Janice
1 year ago

It’s the Jewish students supporting this that breaks my heart. These kids do not have the understanding of what it means to be a Jew in this world. I fear they will learn. These people they are defending would butcher them as swiftly as they did the 1200 innocents.

15
Reply
NewYorkerUWS
NewYorkerUWS
1 year ago

This seems like the first big challenge for Columbia’s new president…doesn’t seem to be going well. On the other hand, Columbia has always been a university with a lot of political activism.

1
Reply
Jonny
Jonny
1 year ago
Reply to  NewYorkerUWS

It could be worse. Look a little down I-95 at Penn. what a mess!

1
Reply

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