Columbia University Threatens Anti-Israel Agitators With Expulsion Following Chaotic Building Takeover
New York City Mayor Eric Adams praised the NYPD on Wednesday after officers swept into anti-American and anti-Israel mobs overnight on two major college campuses, locking up hundreds of agitators; Then he broke into the “despicable” academic environment that allowed the groups to rot.
He highlighted an incident in which New York police officers took down a Palestinian flag that protesters had raised in place of the Stars and Stripes, praised the officers for risking their lives and noted that his own uncle had died defending American values. .
“My uncle died defending this country, and these men and women risked their lives, and it’s despicable that schools allow another country’s flag to fly in our country,” Adams, a former NYPD captain, told reporters. journalists. “So blame me for being proud to be an American and, I think, Commissioner Daughtry for raising that flag again. We’re not giving our way of life to anyone.”
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks to the press as he supports Columbia University’s request asking the New York City Police (NYPD) to remove protesters from the Columbia campus, where they are had created a building occupation and a protest camp in support of the Palestinians. During the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in New York City, USA, on May 1, 2024. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
New York City police leaders delivered an update Wednesday morning, hours after sweeping through Columbia University’s historic Hamilton Hall and clearing out a group of anti-Israel agitators who had “occupied” the building as part of their ongoing demonstrations.
Adams warned that a global movement to “radicalize youth” is being led by individuals who are “not affiliated with the university” but who nonetheless recruit students to “create chaos.”
“There is a movement to radicalize young people, and I am not going to wait until it is done and suddenly acknowledge its existence,” he told reporters Wednesday morning. ‘This is a global problem: young people are being influenced by those who are professionals and radicalizing our children. And I’m not going to let that happen. As mayor of New York City.”
COLUMBIA STUDENT DESCRIBES FEAR ON CAMPUS AND ANTI-ISRAEL SIGNS SUPPORTING TERROSISTS WHO ‘PUT BABIES IN AN OVEN’
Police eventually stormed the structure after school administrators repeatedly backed away from enforcing deadlines demanding the groups dismantle their campus encampment over the past two weeks. Columbia University officials eventually threatened the group with expulsion after students broke into the school’s Hamilton Hall and “occupied” the building.
Anti-Israel agitators barricade themselves inside Hamilton Hall, an academic building that has been occupied in previous student movements, on April 30, 2024 in New York City. Protesters marched as the 2 p.m. deadline to clear the encampment given to students by the university came and went. Students received a suspension warning if they did not meet the deadline. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)
“There is nothing peaceful about barricading buildings, destroying property or dismantling security cameras,” Adams said.
His comments came after university officials finally asked for police support as protests on campus became increasingly unruly.
Police arrested about 300 people in Columbia and City College overnight.
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“Students who occupy the building face expulsion,” school spokesman Ben Chang declared in bold letters Tuesday afternoon.
The blunt warning came about 12 hours after photographs showed a mob of masked, keffiyah-clad protesters stormed the building, blocked the doors and took it over.
Protesters have chosen to escalate to an untenable situation (destroying property, breaking doors and windows, and blocking entrances) and we are carrying out the consequences we described yesterday.
“The work of the University cannot be interrupted forever by protesters who violate the rules,” Chang said.
“Continuing to do so will have clear consequences. Protesters have chosen to escalate to an unsustainable situation – vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows and blocking entrances – and we are carrying out the consequences we outlined yesterday.”
COLUMBIA STUDENT DESCRIBES FEAR ON CAMPUS AND ANTI-ISRAEL SIGNS SUPPORTING TERRORISTS WHO ‘PUT BABIES IN AN OVEN’
Columbia University students stormed Hamilton Hall on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Getty Images/Alex Kent)
Outside the occupied building, a group of like-minded activists linked arms and demanded that the university grant their requests to divest from Israel-related companies and promise not to punish students involved in the protests.
Critics have widely condemned the controversial camps, which have sprung up at Columbia and other major college campuses, as an anti-Semitic display that threatens the safety of fellow Jews.
New York Police Department officers enter the Columbia University building and arrest anti-Israel protesters who had barricaded themselves in the iconic Hamilton Hall building in New York, United States, on April 30, 2024. The building was cleared of occupants approximately two hours after the operation. The process began and more than 100 people were arrested, according to multiple reports. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The school said it had already begun issuing suspensions and that seniors singled out for that punishment will not graduate on time.
“This is about responding to the protesters’ actions, not their cause,” Chang said. “As we said yesterday, the disruptions on campus have created a threatening environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty and a noisy distraction that interferes with teaching, learning, and preparation for final exams, and contributes to a hostile environment in violation of Title VI.”
A view of the broken window of the entrance door to Hamilton Hall. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Earlier Tuesday, university officials declared a lockdown as a result of the Hamilton Hall break-in.
The NYPD later revealed video evidence that “professional” protesters were at the scene inciting the students.
Supporters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), one of the groups organizing the national anti-Israel demonstrations, insist they are carrying out peaceful protests.
Columbia University President Nemat Shafik leaves Low Memorial Library on the Columbia University campus, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. The embattled president, who is under pressure to resign from her position, reportedly met with the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. before his speech at the university before. (Fox News Digital)
However, Jewish students at Columbia and elsewhere tell Fox News Digital they face harassment, discrimination and physical threats.
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One student, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Josh, due to fears for his safety, told Fox News Digital he could hear the Protesters chanting anti-Israel slogans. and playing drums late into the night.
A masked protester stands guard at a closed gate on Columbia’s West Lawn, where dozens of students have set up tents as they demand that the university take a series of anti-Israel measures amid a conflict between the country’s military and terrorists from Hamas who attacked on October 2. 7, 2023. (Micheal Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
“The most terrifying thing I want to emphasize is that we had no idea who was in these fields,” he said. “I’ve seen, walking home at night, people jumping over the fence and smuggling things in through the side doors.” He said some of the people he saw looked like students he believed had been suspended in connection with the protests.
ANTI-ISRAELI AGITATORS IN COLUMBIA PRODUCE A DEFIANT ULTIMATUM
He also played a cellphone video taken over the weekend that showed a group of anti-Israel agitators calling a pair of Jewish students “Zionists” and surrounding them because they were wearing Star of David necklaces.
Several people who said they were authorized to speak on behalf of the Columbia camp declined to speak to Fox News Digital.
Anti-Israel agitators relax inside an encampment set up on the West Lawn of Columbia University in New York City on April 25, 2024. A group of radical protesters broke into the school’s Hamilton Hall early Tuesday and barricaded themselves inside. (Micheal Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
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“I had a friend who got hit,” said Itai Driefuss, a junior. Bachelor’s degree in Colombia and an Israeli military veteran from Tel Aviv. “He’s scary. He’s violent.”
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack that killed more than 1,200 Israelis and left more than 200 kidnapped and held hostage. Israel’s military response is still underway and has killed thousands of people.
Earlier this month, another Israeli military veteran who attend Colombia filed a lawsuit accusing the school of harshly punishing him for using “fart spray” against anti-Israel activists while turning a blind eye to their anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.
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