What I Saw at Columbia's Demonstration

[Sympthsical]

8. I think the Columbia counselor's quote is worthwhile, though

The night the New York City Police Department was taking back Hamilton Hall I spoke with a friend who counsels students at Columbia. He said many students who’d sought him out the past few weeks had mixed or unsure feelings about Israel and were trying to think it through. The demonstrators weren’t.

Those students don’t believe the terrorist organization Hamas was unjustified in its actions on Oct. 7, he said. They are “totally on board with neo-Marxist oppressor-oppressed ideology.” They don’t have compassion for Gaza and its people “any more than they’ve had compassion for Ukraine.” They are driven by an anti-Israeli animus that is also and inextricably an anti-American animus. “They see themselves as great freedom fighters—they are Mandela in South Africa.”

I mean, that's an almost verbatim repetition of the sentiments I've seen expressed in many places. The Mandela comparison to Hamas has been made here, multiple times, quite cheerfully.

And I imagine someone counseling Columbia students would be in a position to know.

Discarding the rest of Noonan, that part still interests me. It's pretty consistent with all evidence.