Anti-Israel Protesters Sue Columbia, Claim They’re Being Called Antisemitic
A group of anti-Israel students filed a lawsuit on Thursday against Columbia University, claiming harassment.
Despite taking over a campus where Jewish students feel threatened to walk safely to their dorms, the anti-Israel students claim they have been victims of "extreme anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic harassment on campus since October 9, 2023."
Palestine Legal — which filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights — cited four pro-Palestinian students and the group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine as the harassed victims.
"The group calls for an investigation into the university’s handling of alleged discrimination and harassment against pro-Palestinian students by Columbia students, professors and administrators under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," the New York Post reported Monday.
The lawsuit alleges that other students called the "victims" names like "terrorists" and "Jew killers."
The students also complained that they are "being stereotyped as supporting Hamas or as terrorists, being treated differently by high-ranking administrators."
"As a Palestinian student, I’ve been harassed, doxxed, shouted down and discriminated against by fellow students and professors — simply because of my identity and my commitment to advocating for my own rights and freedoms," said Maryam Alwan, one of the four students represented in the claim.
"I’m horrified at the way Columbia has utterly failed to protect me from racism and abuse, but beyond that, the university has also played a role in this repression by having me arrested and suspended for peacefully protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza," she added.
Columbia University sent protesters a letter on Monday, warning that students who did not vacate the encampment by 2 p.m. ET would face suspension and become ineligible to complete the semester in good standing.
The anti-Israel students instead defied those orders and formed a human line against police:
But they are the victims.
We published a column earlier today on the victim mentality anti-Israel students uphold. Here's a snippet:
The ongoing anti-Israel protests across so-called "elite" American campuses demonstrate the consequences of seeing the world as split between the oppressed and their oppressors — the vision that modern progressives believe is the answer to our troubles.
Author Barton Swaim of the Wall Street Journal recently described how Ivy students apply said theory to the conflict in Gaza:
"[Liberal college students] can’t behold Israel’s prosperity without concluding that the Jews have stolen their wealth from their neighbors," explained Swaim. "The entire ‘social justice’ movement is premised on the belief that if one group does well and another doesn’t, the former must have taken advantage of the latter."
Believers of the overly simplistic oppressor/oppressed ideology are uniquely susceptible to the whims of divisive propaganda. In this case, radicalized students attribute the ills of the Middle East to colonialism and imperialism. They blame the Jews.
You can read the full column here.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside Columbia University in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York, US, on Monday, April 22, 2024. Columbia University took its classes online after days of anti-Israel protests roiled its New York City campus and prompted condemnation from the White House and City Hall. Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik expressed regret that the university could not reach an agreement with the protesters. She called the demonstrations "hostile" and thus created an "unwelcoming environment."
"I know that many of our Jewish students, and other students as well, have found the atmosphere intolerable in recent weeks. Many have left campus, and that is a tragedy," Shafik said.