Unrestrained University Antisemitism Turns Violent
Antisemitism on American university campuses has reached critical levels. In recent weeks, anti-Israel protesters at New York City’s Columbia University have threatened and harassed Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus, called for genocide against the Jewish people, and taken two employees hostage. The university was sued on April 29 (Monday) by a student for allowing and effectively condoning these protesters to create an extremely dangerous environment for Jewish and pro-Israel students on its campus. The student plaintiff noted that protesters’ actions have included “intimidating and harassing Jewish students and faculty members,” “inciting demonstrators to engage in hate speech,” “committing acts of violence,” and calling “for terrorist attacks against the United States and the State of Israel.”
On Tuesday night, at the request of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik, 200 police officers cleared out two encampments on campus and removed protestors from an occupied building, while hundreds of other officers patrolled campus streets to bar agitators from causing further chaos. At least 50 protesters were arrested, and all protesters in the encampments will be suspended from Columbia and will face trespassing charges at a minimum.
Meanwhile, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is allowing protesters to restrict Jewish and pro-Israel students from entering the university’s library. Audio from a phone call between a parent of a Jewish UCLA student and the UCLA police reveals the ineffectiveness of law enforcement to protect Jewish students. The police representative said of the protesters, “Unfortunately, they have kind of taken over that little area. . . . The police are not intervening with that right now, and this is coming from the university. . . . We have received a directive to not intervene at this time.”
A video taken by another Jewish UCLA student shows protesters restricting his right to enter an area near the school library:
“So you won’t let me in because I’m Jewish?” the student asked on the video.
“Um, no . . . we have a couple Jewish students here. Are you a Zionist?” a protester said.
“Of course I’m Zionist,” the student replied.
“Well, yeah, we’re not gonna let Zionists in.”
On Tuesday, clashes broke out between a smaller group of pro-Israel protesters that confronted the larger pro-Hamas encampment on UCLA campus that was blocking Jewish and pro-Israel students from accessing the library. A video captured the chaos unfolding while security, which said it was ordered to stand down, did nothing, and there was no police response at all. Another video shows a female Jewish student being beaten and “bludgeoned in the head” before ending up being treated in the emergency room.
These anti-Israel protesters have clearly studied Hamas’s tactics and moved past “peaceful” (though still unlawful) protests and are using violence and intimidation to punish students for supporting Israel and being born Jewish. It’s easy to point to the now long-established pattern of major American universities that have fomented hatred against Israel with propaganda and classroom indoctrination as a major reason for the awful result of these protests. But stirring up large groups of people against Israel is nothing new for God’s enemy, Satan. Only God can—and will—protect and preserve the Jewish people as they and their supporters stand for the Jewish nation against a lawless enemy.
