At Columbia, Israel Backers Are Outside Looking In [View all]
Naomi, a sophomore at Columbias Barnard College, can hear the chants and drumbeats from her room. I hear Intifada, From the River, To the Sea, all of that, she says, gesturing down the block toward her dorm. Nothings being done. . . . The school has lost all control. Naomi doesnt have to be here. A week ago, on the first day of Passover, the university moved to hybrid classesin-person attendance is optionalfor the rest of the term. Naomi had already gone home after the rabbi of Columbias Orthodox Union Jewish Learning Initiative urged Jewish students to leave for fear of their safety. I was falling apart, honestly, she says.
Yet on Friday morning she was back, standing proudly among Israeli flags at a rally outside the campus gates, which are closed to outsiders. Theres this mindset of, Why do we have to leave? Were not causing any problems. We just want to do our work. Shes brave, but given the campus climate, not brave enough to be identified by her last name, which she declines to give after thinking it over. We stand amid the crowd, listening as relatives of hostages and local Jewish leaders speak a few hundred feet away from the campus anti-Israel encampment. Unlike the masked occupiers on campus, the pro-Israel crowd stands barefaced, peacefully chanting Bring Them Home between speakers.
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An older resident, Barbara Lass, holds a sign with a photo of a hostage and wears a Star of David necklace. She invokes John Lennons Revolution: Theyre standing on a corner passing out literature about Mao to unsuspecting young people, she says. I graduated in 1968. Ive seen all of this before, but its new and improved. . . . These young Americans are now actually defining themselves by their victimhood.
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After weeks of watching from afar as the hateful, menacing protests rage on campuses across the country, Friday mornings rally made me hopeful. New Yorks Jewish people wont be cowed by an ignorant, hateful mob, no matter how much noise it makes.
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