Pro-Palestine protesters at Columbia call for ‘total divestment’

(NewsNation) — The pro-Palestine protest at Columbia University continued into its sixth day, despite New York police arresting over 100 demonstrators last week. As protests expand to other college campuses, demonstrators are calling for “full and total divestment” from Israel.

New York police arrested two more demonstrators Monday but the NYPD has moved outside the university. NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said they are standing ready, but need to be asked by Columbia to go on campus.

Officers, though, are still patrolling the outer perimeter of the campus at the request of the university, and the NYPD continues to be in close contact with the school administration, Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said at a news conference.

In addition, Daughtry said NYPD officers are advising the school to have safe corridors for students who are traveling to off-campus Passover celebrations.

Columbia students last week put up tents and stayed on campus to protest Israel’s military action in Gaza and demand the school divest from companies they claim “profit from Israeli apartheid.” On Monday, images on social media showed a faculty walkout at Columbia to support those at the encampment.

“We represent our community. We don’t represent the external community who may be mobilizing outside of the gates for us. We align with full and total divestment,” Columbia freshman Dalia told NewsNation.

In order to enter the protest encampment and speak to the student, NewsNation’s Rich McHugh had to present his ID and credentials, which were verified by the the demonstrators. The little village also had a code of conduct and rights that individuals must read before entering.

Meanwhile, some Jewish students on campus are expressing concerns about the prolonged protest.

“They don’t really scare me but I know a lot of people who are quite terrified, actually terrified is the word that a lot of people have been using,” Columbia student Jessica Schwalb told NewsNation. “I mean, sometimes my heart beats a little faster especially when one of the pro-Palestinian protesters literally followed me even while I was just sitting on the steps on campus.”

Other protests have sprung up on college campuses in solidarity with Columbia’s demonstration. About 45 protesters were arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing at Yale on Monday, Christian Bruckhart, a New Haven police spokesperson, said. All were released on promises to appear in court later. Another Gaza Solidarity Encampment was set up at New York University at 6 a.m. ET.

“As a diverse group united by love and justice, we demand that our voices be heard against the mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. We’ve been horrified each day, watching children crying over the bodies of their slain parents, families without food to eat, and doctors operating without anesthesia,” Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said in a statement Sunday night. “Our university is complicit in this violence and that is why we protest.”

Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said members of its group have been doxxed, arrested and “locked out of our homes” by the university.

“We have knowingly put ourselves in danger because we can no longer be complicit in Columbia funneling our tuition dollars and grant funding into companies that profit from death,” the organization said.

Meanwhile, NewsNation confirmed over the weekend that a rabbi at Columbia University and Barnard College warned students to leave the campus because of “extreme antisemitism.”

Rabbi Elie Buechler sent a WhatsApp message to students before Passover on Monday that the protests that have unfolded since Wednesday “have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy,” the New York Post reported.

On Monday, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik said classes would be held virtually in an attempt “to de-escalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps.”

“During the coming days, a working group of Deans, university administrators and faculty members will try to bring this crisis to a resolution,” Shafik wrote. “That includes continuing discussions with the student protestors and identifying actions we can take as a community to enable us to peacefully complete the term and return to respectful engagement with each other.”

Columbia president’s testimony sparks protests

The pro-Palestinian protests started shortly before Shafik testified before Congress regarding antisemitism on campus.

After other Ivy League presidents’ equivocation led to weeks of backlash, Shafik focused her message on fighting antisemitism rather than protecting free speech.

“Antisemitism has no place on our campus, and I am personally committed to doing everything I can to confront it directly,” Shafik said in her opening comments.

On key questions, she took a more decisive stance than her Ivy League colleagues, who gave lawyerly answers when asked if calls for the genocide of Jews would violate campus policies. Asked the same question, Shafik and three other Columbia leaders responded definitively that it would.

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates condemned “calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students” in a Sunday statement on the Columbia University protests.

The calls are “blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous — they have absolutely no place on any college campus, or anywhere in the United States of America,” Bates said.

Asked Monday about the demonstrations, U.S. President Joe Biden said he “condemns” antisemitic protests, but he also condemns “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” according to a pool report.

In a statement to the Columbia student body, Shafik said that while protests are a tradition at the school, the encampment violates rules and policies.

Police said 108 people were charged Thursday with trespassing at Columbia University in connection to the protest encampment set up on campus. Two people were also charged with obstructing government administration. Video footage showed people being arrested on Monday as well.

Arrests made by the New York City Police Department on Thursday were done at the behest of the school, according to a statement from Daughtry.

Daughtry said the school determined the encampment and related disruptions “pose a clear and present danger to the substantial functioning of the University.” Police in riot gear used zip ties to detain the students before loading them onto police buses.

According to the student newspaper Columbia Spectator, John Chell, chief of patrol for the NYPD, said no violence or injuries were associated with the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” Police Commissioner Edward Caban said the arrests were peaceful, and the protesters were cooperative.

Daughtry said Monday that the NYPD has fielded reports of Israeli students having their flags taken away from them and that some said there were “hateful things said towards them.” 

However, there have been no reports of physical harm against any students, he added.

In addition to the arrests, a spokesperson for Columbia University said students taking part in what they called an “unauthorized encampment” are also being suspended. Columbia is continuing to identify the students involved and will be sending out formal notifications of suspension.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, in a Sunday statement, condemned antisemitic rhetoric, citing specific examples like a protester holding a sign stating “Al-Qasam’s Next Targets” with an arrow pointing to Jewish students, another yelling “We are Hamas” and groups chanting “We don’t want no Zionists here.”

Adams called supporting Hamas “sickening and despicable” and vowed the NYPD would investigate any violations of law and make arrests. While noting Columbia is private property where the NYPD cannot have a presence unless requested by the university, Adams urged Columbia’s administration to improve communication with the NYPD for safety.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday, “The First Amendment protects the right to protest, but students also have a right to learn in an environment free from harassment or violence. At Columbia or on any campus, threatening Jewish students with violence or glorifying the terror of Oct. 7 is antisemitism.”

Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said in their statement that the “inflammatory individuals” making antisemitic comments do not represent them.

“We firmly reject any form of hate or bigotry and stand vigilant against non-students attempting to disrupt the solidarity being forged among students — Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, Black and pro-Palestinian classmates and colleagues who represent the full diversity of our country,” they wrote.

What is behind the protests?

Protests have been taking place across the world since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, which erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border attack Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in the kidnapping of 250 others.

An Israeli offensive in Gaza has caused widespread devastation and killed more than 34,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

American officials and Israeli leaders are striving to discourage Iran and other neighboring countries from further escalating tensions in the region. However, the Palestinian issue is a powder keg, igniting anger and frustration across Arab nations and among the Arab populace who believe that the Palestinians have been denied the promised two-state solution outlined in the Oslo Accords decades ago.   

Hamas said its attack was in response to the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, threats to the status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the plight of Palestinian refugees and prisoners. 

On the Israeli side, there’s immense anger and a strong desire to dismantle Hamas, a goal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is committed to achieving through the military offensive.

NewsNation’s Steph Whiteside, Hena Doba, Rich McHugh, Kellie Meyer and The Associated Press contributed to this report.