(Pro-Hamas rioters backed by George Soros broke windows, barricaded doors and occupied a building at New York’s Columbia University overnight after school officials said they would not cede to demands from demonstrators to divest assets from the Israeli government.
Hundreds of agitators created a human chain in front of the building to block campus police. Columbia faculty members were also involved in blocking security.
The breach of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall began around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday by students and others who have refused to leave the so-called Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the campus grounds, according to published news reports.
Although Columbia responded with the threat of expulsion, many of the masked activists were believed to be paid instigators and not students of the school.
As of Wednesday, the school had reportedly dropped the charges and refused to let the New York Police Department in to addresss the situation.
BREAKING.🚨
All charges have been *DROPPED* against Pro-Hamas rioters who took over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University on Monday night.
Columbia U. refused to let NYPD in despite protesters allegedly committing unlawful detention, vandalism & assault.pic.twitter.com/kwgFxWtmv6
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) April 30, 2024
Video footage showed the rioters, smashing windows and unfurling an Intifada flag from a window as they chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Palestine will live forever.”
They hung a hand-written sign reading “Hind’s Hall” after a 6-year-old Palestinian child who was allegedly killed by the Israeli military.
The escalation in the protests came after university officials suspended students who had refused to leave an encampment set up about two weeks ago.
Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik has also declined to divest the university’s financial holdings from Israel, a key demand of the protesters.
The NYPD, which must get permission from the university to enter the campus, hadn’t intervened in the riot, but news reports showed a heavy police presence outside the university’s gates.
University officials distributed flyers to students on Monday notifying them that they would not face suspension if they exited the encampment by 2 p.m. on Tuesday, according to published reports.
The university closed school grounds to students who did not live on campus.
The riot was part of a wave of anti-Semitic protests that have swept U.S. college campuses over the past week as the Soros-backed activists engage in structure-testing ahead of the November election.
Few likely have any deep knowledge of the conflict betweeen Hamas and Israel. However, the dry-run mobilization will allow organizers to build a network of seemingly “organic” activists who can reap chaos as schools adjourn in the summer months.
A catalyzing incident such as another George Floyd-style slaying or an unfavorable Supreme Court verdict could bring the return of race riots similar to the Black Lives Matter movement that endured for months in 2020.
Ostensibly, however, the current “student” activism comes in response to Israel’s war in Gaza, which was prompted by the Oct. 7 attack by the terrorist group Hamas that killed 1,200 Israelis and injured many others. Hamas also took hostages, many of whom are still in captivity.
Dozens of arrests have been made at Harvard, Yale and other elite schools as campus police and law enforcement have been called in to take down the makeshift encampments, which violate school policies. Hundreds of people have been arrested.
At Columbia, Jewish students have said they feel unsafe with protesters chanting Naziesque slogans and holding signs, which has prompted New York lawmakers to call on the university to clear protesters that some have called “terrorist sympathizers.”
“Columbia has surrendered to the radical pro-Hamas anti-Semitic mob instead of securing campus and protecting Columbia’s Jewish students,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said in a statement. “There can be no more extensions or delays. There can be no negotiations with self-proclaimed Hamas terrorists and their sympathizers.”
In response to the Columbia protests, Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. and Richie Torres, D-N.Y., have filed legislation requiring the U.S. Department of Education to establish a third-party “anti-Semitism monitor” on any U.S. college or university receiving federal funding.
The monitor would have the authority to recommend that universities be stripped of federal funding for not doing enough to crack down on anti-Semitic demonstrations.
“Rising anti-Semitism on our college campuses is a major concern and we must act to ensure the safety of students,” Lawler said. “If colleges will not step up to protect their students, Congress must act.”
