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- To Hamas and their Ivy League terrorist friends: We’re not going anywhere
To Hamas and their Ivy League terrorist friends: We’re not going anywhere
Jewish students belong on campus, and we won’t be relegated to attending virtually just because the administration can’t ensure our safety
As many have probably figured out by now, since the atrocities of October 7th college campuses across the U.S. have become a hotbed of despicable antisemitism. For over six months, the rhetoric has been violent and threatening toward Jewish students while the response from university administrations has been extremely weak, if not nonexistent.
The university that has largely won the contest of most horrific place for Jewish students is the one I enrolled in two years ago: Columbia University in New York City. A so-called world-class institution of higher learning in the city that is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. I moved from Brussels to New York primarily because I did not see a future for Jewish life in Europe. Little did I know that what I was to witness would surpass insanity in its most radical form.
Since April 17th, the violence of the protests on campus has taken a turn. As dawn broke that day, pro-Palestinian protesters set up an encampment in the middle of campus and pledged not to move until their demands — for the university to divest from Israel — were met. The following day, NYPD received authorization to clear the campus lawn, and protesters were arrested and later released over the subsequent hours.
But the many protesters who did not get arrested that afternoon rushed to set up a new encampment a few meters away, one that has remained active with absolutely no response from the administration whatsoever. Today, Monday, April 22nd, marks the sixth day of this intense protest.
Even worse than the encampment that has been continuously disrupting campus life, is the increasing intensity of the antisemitism and pro-terrorism rhetoric and acts we have witnessed since October 8th. Inside and outside the university gates, hundreds of students and non-affiliates have been violently chanting “Globalize the intifada,” “We are all Hamas, b*tch,” “Al-Qasam's next victims” [pointing at Jews], “Yahoodi, Yahoodi, f*ck you,” and more. Israeli flags have also been burned.
Many of my Jewish friends have been physically attacked, spit on, yelled at, and followed on their way home, and the situation is getting worse every day. Yet the administration does not move. We have not received a single communication from anyone about safety measures being put in place to ensure the safety of Jewish students, faculty, and staff.
Professors, in solidarity with the protestors, have canceled classes or – worse still – decided to hold classes in the encampment. Yet the administration does not move.
On Saturday evening, as the situation reached the peak of violence in front of campus, the Columbia Jewish community took the leap to organize its own safety network. Students who were very concerned by what was happening contacted the administration. Their response: you can take classes via Zoom.
Some of my peers are frightened by what is currently going on at Columbia and as the Passover holiday approaches, some have decided to leave campus and be with their families. Others will unfortunately attend classes by Zoom starting on Monday because of the administration’s inability to protect their Jewish students.
For my part, I have dreamed of attending Columbia University since I was 12 years old, and worked tirelessly to get here. Now, I am not going anywhere. I will not take any classes on Zoom just because of the university’s lack of responsibility. If I did, Hamas and their Ivy League terrorist friends would win. Jewish and Zionist students have their place at Columbia and all the other universities in the country.
So let me tell the world: We are not going anywhere.