https://sputnikglobe.com/20240427/jewish-student-protester-shatters-myth-of-antisemitic-campus-demonstrations-1118133061.html
Jewish Student Protester Shatters Myth of Antisemitic Campus Demonstrations
Jewish Student Protester Shatters Myth of Antisemitic Campus Demonstrations
Sputnik International
“I don't think students are afraid anymore,” said the undergraduate at New York University as demonstrators are defamed in mainstream media and threatened by police and administrators.
2024-04-27T03:16+0000
2024-04-27T03:16+0000
2024-05-02T12:32+0000
john kiriakou
robert kraft
columbia
israel
palestine
hillel
new york university
columbia university
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us
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“At least 33 major American universities – and now international ones – have joined in on campus Gaza protests, sparking a mix of reactions by campus administrators from confusion to heavy handedness,” noted host John Kiriakou on Sputnik’s Political Misfits program.Demonstrations began over a week ago at New York City’s Columbia University campus in Upper Manhattan, where students set up an encampment calling for the school to divest funds from financial interests connected to weapons manufacturers and the Israeli occupation. Protests intensified after the school’s President Minouche Shafik called in local police to disperse the demonstration.Hundreds of arrests have since taken place across the country, most recently at the University of Ohio, Indiana University, and the University of Minnesota Thursday. Panic spread at encampments in Ohio and Indiana after reports of what appeared to be police snipers set up on rooftops overlooking the protests.The reports remain unconfirmed, but the prospect of National Guard deployments to quell the demonstrations has recalled memories of Ohio’s 1970 Kent State massacre, in which four students protesting the Vietnam War were gunned down.Throughout the wave of demonstrations, a common media refrain justifying the police crackdown has been that protesters are violent and antisemitic, creating safety concerns for Jewish students. One Jewish protest organizer at New York University joined Political Misfits Friday to challenge such narratives.“Since October 7th, students at NYU have been really carrying on the struggle to demand that the university divests and discloses its financial connections with organizations and companies that have really been funding this unrelenting assault on the Palestinian people over the past few months,” said Sam, whose full name was withheld to protect his privacy.“We are just utterly sick of having our money directly fund the murder of children, the destruction of hospitals, the oppression of an entire people.”The protests have brought light to the massive financial holdings of colleges and universities in the United States, whose endowments are often estimated to be worth billions of dollars. Pro-Palestine advocates have long supported a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctioning of Israeli interests in an echo of tactics successfully employed against apartheid South Africa decades ago.But wealthy donors hold significant sway over decisions made by administrators. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft announced he would withhold support from Columbia University this week after comparing demonstrations on the university’s campus to scenes from Nazi Germany.“The university as soon as we set up started to accuse us of things like antisemitism and attempting to incite violence,” said Sam, claiming attempts to discredit protesters at NYU resembled narratives from officials at Columbia.“Not only did I and other Jewish students feel safe in the encampments, but Jewish students generally played a vital role in the planning of this encampment, as well as the programing,” Sam insisted. “For example, we held a Passover Seder at the encampment.”The student went on to criticize the role of Hillel International, an organization of groups that offer services to religiously observant Jews on college campuses. Hillel has furthered the narrative that college pro-Palestine protests are antisemitic, with representatives from its Columbia chapter most recently meeting with US second gentleman Doug Emhoff over the issue.The role of the group echoes efforts by some other self-avowed Jewish cultural and religious organizations, which are sometimes strongly pro-Zionist. New York’s 92nd Street Y community center was engulfed in controversy last year after canceling a talk by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who had signed an open letter calling for an end to Israel’s use of military force against civilians in Gaza. The organization eventually ended its literary series altogether.“Hillel itself claims to be like a Jewish cultural center on campuses all throughout the country,” said Sam. “This is ridiculous. It's false… They're not a Jewish organization, as we say, they're a Zionist organization. What they are designed to do is to indoctrinate Jewish students into supporting the State of Israel and its crimes.”“They expel us, they ostracize us, they spread lies about us. And when they do that they prevent us from accessing religious spaces that we need for Shabbat, for Passover… It's just sickening that Hillel dares to call itself a Jewish organization when it actively harms the Jewish community.”Sam insisted that the primary threat to Jewish students and others at the protests emerged not from their fellow demonstrators, but from their schools’ heavy-handed crackdowns on the encampments.“And we are watching constant videos of just major police crackdowns on peaceful protesters, from Emory to Columbia to so many different other universities, and seeing the strength of the students, the strength in us,” he added. “And it's just creating this basically unbreakable chain of solidarity and resistance.”
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Jewish Student Protester Shatters Myth of Antisemitic Campus Demonstrations
03:16 GMT 27.04.2024 (Updated: 12:32 GMT 02.05.2024) “I don't think students are afraid anymore,” said the undergraduate at New York University as demonstrators are defamed in mainstream media and threatened by police and administrators.
“At least 33 major American universities – and now international ones – have joined in on campus Gaza protests, sparking a mix of reactions by campus administrators from confusion to heavy handedness,” noted host John Kiriakou on
Sputnik’s Political Misfits program.
Demonstrations began over a week ago at New York City’s Columbia University campus in Upper Manhattan, where students set up an encampment calling for the school to divest funds from financial interests connected to weapons manufacturers and the Israeli occupation. Protests intensified after the school’s President Minouche Shafik called in local police to disperse the demonstration.
Hundreds of arrests have since taken place across the country, most recently at the University of Ohio, Indiana University, and the University of Minnesota Thursday. Panic spread at encampments in Ohio and Indiana
after reports of what appeared to be police snipers set up on rooftops overlooking the protests.
The reports remain unconfirmed, but the prospect of National Guard deployments to quell the demonstrations has recalled memories of
Ohio’s 1970 Kent State massacre, in which four students protesting the Vietnam War were gunned down.
Throughout the wave of demonstrations, a common media refrain justifying the police crackdown has been that protesters are violent and antisemitic, creating safety concerns for Jewish students. One Jewish protest organizer at New York University joined Political Misfits Friday to challenge such narratives.
“Since October 7th, students at NYU have been really carrying on the struggle to demand that the university divests and discloses its financial connections with organizations and companies that have really been funding this unrelenting assault on the Palestinian people over the past few months,” said Sam, whose full name was withheld to protect his privacy.
“NYU is one of the most expensive universities to attend in the United States,” he noted. “And this money funds the living of administrators, staff and faculty but at the same time, despite their complete reliance on this money, we as students have absolutely no control over where this money actually ends up.”
“We are just utterly sick of having our money directly fund the murder of children, the destruction of hospitals, the oppression of an entire people.”
The protests have brought light to the massive financial holdings of colleges and universities in the United States, whose endowments are often estimated to be worth billions of dollars. Pro-Palestine advocates have long supported a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctioning of Israeli interests in an echo of tactics successfully employed against apartheid South Africa decades ago.
7 February 2022, 21:04 GMT
But wealthy donors hold significant sway over decisions made by administrators. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft
announced he would withhold support from Columbia University this week after
comparing demonstrations on the university’s campus to scenes from Nazi Germany.
“The university as soon as we set up started to accuse us of things like antisemitism and attempting to incite violence,” said Sam, claiming attempts to discredit protesters at NYU resembled narratives from officials at Columbia.
“It could not be further from the truth at all,” he claimed. “For as long as the encampment was there, the entire day almost, students were just sharing meals. They're working on assignments and building a welcoming community. As a Jewish student, I was there and I feel like it's my duty to just refute these ridiculous claims of antisemitism that have been thrown around by the university and politicians.”
“Not only did I and other Jewish students feel safe in the encampments, but Jewish students generally played a vital role in the planning of this encampment, as well as the programing,” Sam insisted. “For example, we held a Passover Seder at the encampment.”
The student went on to criticize the role of Hillel International, an organization of groups that offer services to religiously observant Jews on college campuses. Hillel has furthered the narrative that college pro-Palestine protests are antisemitic, with representatives from its Columbia chapter most recently meeting with US second gentleman Doug Emhoff over the issue.
The role of the group echoes efforts by some other self-avowed Jewish cultural and religious organizations, which are sometimes strongly pro-Zionist.
New York’s 92nd Street Y community center was engulfed in controversy last year after canceling a talk by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who had signed an open letter calling for an end to Israel’s use of military force against civilians in Gaza. The organization eventually ended its literary series altogether.
“Hillel itself claims to be like a Jewish cultural center on campuses all throughout the country,” said Sam. “This is ridiculous. It's false… They're not a Jewish organization, as we say, they're a Zionist organization. What they are designed to do is to indoctrinate Jewish students into supporting the State of Israel and its crimes.”
“For many years now Jewish students across the country have been trying to fight against Hillel, to expose it for all its horrid things that it does,” he added. “For example, it recruits students into Mossad to basically spy on organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace that have risen to prominence over the past few months. It's really terrible how Hillel has gripped campuses throughout the United States. As Jews that are standing up against the crimes of Israel, we are not tolerated by Hillel.”
“They expel us, they ostracize us, they spread lies about us. And when they do that they prevent us from accessing religious spaces that we need for Shabbat, for Passover… It's just sickening that Hillel dares to call itself a Jewish organization when it actively harms the Jewish community.”
Sam insisted that the primary threat to Jewish students and others at the protests emerged not from their fellow demonstrators, but from their schools’ heavy-handed crackdowns on the encampments.
“Plenty of student journalists and legal observers were sprayed, were attacked by the police, and it's just ridiculous,” he recalled. “And so when we're talking about future crackdowns by the university, I don't think students are afraid anymore. Especially not with the solidarity happening all throughout the country.”
“And we are watching constant videos of just major police crackdowns on peaceful protesters, from Emory to Columbia to so many different other universities, and seeing the strength of the students, the strength in us,” he added. “And it's just creating this basically unbreakable chain of solidarity and resistance.”
