Columbia rabbi warns Jewish students to go home, don’t come back to campus because of ‘extreme antisemitism’

Metro

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By Doree Lewak and Isabel Keane

A prominent rabbi at Columbia University took the drastic step Sunday of warning Jewish students to go home and not return to campus because of “extreme antisemitism” at the Ivy League school.

The dire directive followed yet another night of virulent anti-Israel protests on campus — which included one protester holding up a sign suggesting that students waving Israeli flags should be the next target of Hamas terrorists.”

The events of the last few days, especially last night, 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,” Rabbi Elie Buechler told students Sunday morning over WhatsApp.

“It deeply pains me to say that I would strongly recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved.

“It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus,” he said. “No one should have to endure this level of hatred, let alone at school.”

Jewish students who showed up on campus Saturday night to protest antisemitism at the prestigious university carried Israeli flags and sang “One Day,” a song of peace by reggae singer and rapper Matisayhu — only to be promptly attacked by hate speech and threatened with calls to violence, witnesses told The Post.

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When they claim the protests at @Columbia University are peaceful, show them this video.

The coward with the covered face holds a sign that reads: “Al-Qasam’s Next Targets” with an arrow pointing to students holding Israeli and American flags.

Al-Qasam is the military arm of… pic.twitter.com/v8zDizxkP9

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) April 21, 2024

“People were yelling at Hamas to strike Tel Aviv,” a sophomore at Barnard, a college at Columbia, told The Post, recalling how the previous night, a keffiyeh-clad student penetrated the Jewish students’ rally with a sign reading “Al Kassam’s [Hamas’s military wing’s] next target.” 

The student’s sign, which was captured on video posted to X, included an arrow pointing at the Jewish students peacefully protesting. 

“That’s a call to violence. It’s totally out of control. It’s total anarchy,” the student said, adding that Jewish students’ right to “peacefully protest” had been taken away. 

The mother of the Barnard student bashed the university for losing control. 

“Columbia is out of control. This is untenable. People breaking into campus, kids calling public safety that refused to intervene. … Signs up saying ‘Hamas should kill you next’ and pointing to Jewish kids with Israeli flags who were singing,” the mom said. 

Her daughter agreed that the protests have spiraled out of control. 

“We all want to be here and get a good education, and it’s not fair that this is impeding on that,” she said. 

“I don’t think it’s safe to be on campus,” the student said. “We’re not going to go anywhere — we’re not running away — but you can’t be a student there now. They’re protesting all day and all night. I hear it at night when I’m trying to sleep.

“You can barely sleep, barely get to class. It’s definitely getting in the way of being a student,” she added.

While some students seemed to be heeding Rabbi Buechler’s advice, others were determined to stay on campus, with one Jewish student saying he plans to remain even after being “chased up the block” a few days ago by a pro-Palestine mob. 

“It’s honestly horrifying now. To walk around Columbia’s campus right now is to walk through a completely hostile environment,” the senior, Avi Weinberg, 25, told The Post on Sunday. 

Weinberg slammed Columbia’s administration for losing its “backbone” and failing to do more to protect students. 

He added that he doesn’t plan to follow the rabbi’s advice or take classes over Zoom just because “a group of lunatics decided to take over campus. 

“We cannot go back to living in a world … where Jewish students can’t go to school,” Weinberg said. 

“Walking through campus right now as a Jewish student – Zionist or not – if you’re not in agreement with their ideology, you’re not safe,” he said of the anti-Israel protesters. “You can’t walk on a lawn on a campus that’s open to all students. You cannot walk on that lawn – an entire team of students co-opted this lawn and [interrogate you].”

House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who grilled Columbia’s president this week in a congressional hearing on the university’s response to antisemitism, agreed Sunday that things “clearly lost control” on campus. 

“Over the past few months and especially in the last 24 hours, Columbia’s leadership has clearly close control of its campus putting Jewish students’ safety at risk. It is crystal clear that Columbia University — previously a beacon of academic excellence founded by Alexander Hamilton — needs new leadership,” she said in a statement. 

“President [Minouche] Shafik must immediately resign. And the Columbia Board must appoint a President who will protect Jewish students and enforce school policies.” 

On Sunday, Columbia’s and Barnard’s chapters of the Jewish community organization Hillel sent out a message ensuring they will remain open and available for students who may need a quiet place to study or be with friends. 

“Columbia University and the City of New York must do more to protect students. We call on the University Administration to act immediately in restoring calm to campus,” wrote Brian Cohen, the executive director of the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life. “The City must ensure that students can walk up and down Broadway and Amsterdam without fear of harassment.”