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Biden denounces antisemitism on college campuses amid Yale, Columbia protests [1]

['Kyle Melnick']

Date: 2024-04-21

Demonstrations against the Israel-Gaza war continued to roil college campuses at Yale and Columbia universities, as students voiced fears of antisemitism on campus while others defended their right to protest. On Monday morning, the Yale Daily News reported that police had arrested at least 13 people on Yale’s campus, days after the arrest of more than 100 people protesting the Israel-Gaza war on Columbia University’s campus. The Yale Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report of arrests Monday morning.

On Sunday, President Biden condemned antisemitism on college campuses in a statement.

Biden’s statement, which was part of a lengthy Passover greeting he issued from the White House, didn’t name Columbia or Yale directly but cited “harassment and calls for violence against Jews” in recent days.

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“This blatant Antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous — and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country,” the statement said.

The president and the White House often issue holiday greetings for various faiths, but the latest statement was notable for its political references. It noted that Passover was coming at a difficult time for Jews still processing the Oct. 7 attack, when Hamas militants killed an estimated 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 hostages.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators held protests outside Columbia University in New York, as the school’s leaders testified before a House committee on April 17. (Video: Naomi Schanen/The Washington Post)

Earlier Sunday, the White House issued a separate statement directly in response to anti-Israel protests at Columbia, which are continuing this week as students occupy the university grounds in tented encampments.

“While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly Antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous,” said the statement from Andrew Bates, deputy White House press secretary.

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Monday is the beginning of Passover, a celebration of Jews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt.

Columbia President Minouche Shafik announced early Monday that all of that day’s classes would be held virtually. “Our bonds as a community have been severely tested in ways that will take a great deal of time and effort to reaffirm,” she wrote in the statement. “Students across an array of communities have conveyed fears for their safety and we have announced additional actions we are taking to address security concerns.”

The protest at Columbia University came the same week as many other demonstrations across the country that were meant to highlight Israel’s war in Gaza. Protesters have blocked major roads in New York and San Francisco and airport access roads in Chicago and Seattle.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shut down roads and bridges across the United States on April 15, calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. (Video: Julie Yoon/The Washington Post)

But the situation at Columbia has come under a bigger political spotlight after Shafik was called to testify Wednesday before a House Committee investigating campus antisemitism.

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The following day, Shafik summoned New York Police Department officers in riot gear to the campus. The arrested students, who offered little resistance, were charged with trespassing. Shafik told New York police in a letter that students involved in the protest would be suspended.

Students returned Sunday to occupy the grounds, prompting new concerns and condemnations.

On Sunday morning, Elie Buechler, a rabbi at the Hillel for Columbia University, told Jewish students in a WhatsApp message that they should leave campus until safety measures have improved, he confirmed to The Washington Post.

“What we are witnessing in and around campus is terrible and tragic,” Buechler’s message said. “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.”

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Hillel, a Jewish campus organization, called on Columbia and New York City to step up efforts to protect Jewish students, while urging them not to quit the school. “We do not believe that Jewish students should leave @Columbia,” the group posted on X. “We do believe that the University and the City need to do more to ensure the safety of our students.”

New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) said in a statement Sunday night that more New York police officers have been stationed near Columbia’s campus. He said that a protester at the university yelled, “We are Hamas.”

“As mayor of the city with the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel, the pain these protests are causing Jews across the globe is not lost on me,” Adams said. “I also see and hear the pain of those protesting in support of innocent lives being lost in Gaza.”

Since Israel’s war in Gaza began in the wake of the deadly Hamas attack, colleges have struggled to balance freedom of speech and protest.

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[1] Url: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/21/columbia-university-protest-biden-antisemitism/

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