Protests at Columbia University in New York City got heated Thursday night as protesters demanded charges be dropped against pro-Palestinian activists who were shutting down the college’s buildings to protest Israel’s war in Gaza. The protesters were upset that the police arrested those making a ‘tent city’ inside the college’s buildings and on campus grounds. 108 were arrested after three days of protests. The protesters wanted those arrested released without charges.
⚠️Multiple Pro Palestine protesters at Columbia University were arrested yesterday. The college is contemplating some people being suspended due to the large protest that went well into the night. Please say over 19 people were arrested.👎 pic.twitter.com/YQIbwgeLWI
— Todd Paron🇺🇸🇬🇷🎧👽 (@tparon) April 18, 2024
One Columbia Professor denounced the police.
These protests were spearheaded by a far-left alt-left group called Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine (WOL). One of those arrested was Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Communist daughter Isra Hirsi, who attends college at Barnard College, also in NYC. Hirsi was suspended by Barnard College yesterday.
Disclose! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest! Still here outside Columbia! Come join! 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/NWC0QQgeIb
— Within Our Lifetime (@WOLPalestine) April 19, 2024
The protests come in the wake of the Hamas organization’s terrorist attack on Israelis last October 7th, when a reported 1,200 Israeli citizens and soldiers were killed. The escalating violence in response, where Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and pushed out 2 million Palestinians, causing an estimated 50,000 casualties, has caused worldwide condemnation and nearly brought the world into conflict when Iran launched 200 militarized drones at Israel last week.
“We don’t want no Zionists here.”
Protest video sent to me by a Columbia student: pic.twitter.com/ysBQtRabKP
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) April 19, 2024
Protests at the nation’s college campuses have largely been reported as siding with the Palestinians. A leaked call from inside the powerful Jewish group the Anti-Defamation League said that the nation’s Jewish leaders were aware of the political problem of Palestinian influence on college students, and were working with the government to increase censorship, including on social media, to combat the rise in what they described as anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist views.
One pro-Palestinian protester said, “We’re going to turn this city upside down until we’re f****** heard whether you like it or not. I don’t give a f***.”
Arab-Israeli reporter Yoseph Haddad was assaulted at the protest, he was escorted away from the scene by police. Protesters were demanding that Haddad be arrested, chanting, “Arrest that Zionist piece of s***”
Hi @Reuters,
I am not a pro-Palestinian protestor
I am an Israeli Arab who is surrounded by policemen to protect me after I was attacked at a demonstration by terror supporters, I am on the way to file a complaint about the attack…
And one more thing you forgot to mention -… pic.twitter.com/xIEwXVJwCU— יוסף חדאד – Yoseph Haddad (@YosephHaddad) April 19, 2024
Witnesses say his assailant was this man, pictured below. As Haddad was escorted away, the protester was observed making additional threats to Haddad.
Arab Israeli activist @yosephhaddad assaulted at Hamas supporting illegal protest at Columbia University. The attacker, Essa Ejelat, is still at large pic.twitter.com/c1X6BGUG5c
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) April 19, 2024
CBS News New York Reporter Jessica Moore, pictured below, was repeatedly called a “Zionist c***” by the protesters, causing her to get unnerved.
Journalist Andy Ngo, who has been the nation’s premier documenter of the alt-left and Antifa-adjacent groups, tweeted about Columbia:
Pro-Palestine extremists part of the @Columbia University CHAZ-style occupation took over the street for an Islamic street prayer. No women were in the front. pic.twitter.com/k7x8REh2ol
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) April 19, 2024
Most legal charges against far-left political protesters are dropped by police and friendly prosecutors nationwide, in violation of the Constitutional requirement of equal treatment under law. The Manhattan District Attorney is far-left zealot Alvin Bragg. Bragg’s campaigns have been significantly funded by far-left donors like George Soros. It remains to be seen if these protesters who were arrested will be processed through the criminal justice system now largely in control of sympathetic left-wing ideologues.
Columbia University is the alma mater for left-wing icons like Barack Hussein Obama, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and also Communist spies like Victor Perlo and Harry Dexter White.
