Greater than 100 protesters gathered exterior a Columbia College constructing Tuesday night in response to an look from former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the college’s scholar newspaper reported.
Columbia/Barnard Hillel, the College of Worldwide and Public Affairs’ Institute of World Politics, and the Kraft Middle for Jewish Scholar Life organized the occasion with Bennett in New York Metropolis.
“The dialogue was an essential a part of our ongoing mission to empower our college students to discover, be taught, and develop intellectually,” Brian Cohen, spokesperson for the Kraft Middle, stated in an announcement to Fox Information Digital about Bennett’s go to. “The occasion proceeded with out disruption. Sadly, the present campus dynamic compelled us to make final night time’s occasion open solely to invited college students.”
Cohen added, “[S]tudents of various backgrounds and political leanings listened to a world chief and requested difficult questions – as one would anticipate at a world-class college.”
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Anti-Israel protesters collect exterior Columbia College’s campus in New York Metropolis throughout former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s go to on March 4, 2025. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu)
Columbia JVP and the Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition co-organized the protest in opposition to the occasion, in response to The Columbia Spectator. There have been numerous anti-Israel demonstrations held on faculty campuses throughout the USA since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas first attacked Israel, sparking the start of a 15-month warfare that has left tens of 1000’s of individuals useless.
“The College coordinated with Columbia Hillel on Public Security preparations for his or her occasion with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, together with with respect to any campus protest exercise and to attenuate potential disruptions to educational actions,” Columbia College stated in a Wednesday assertion. “The occasion was properly attended and occurred with out disruption or interference.”
The varsity stated “teams from exterior” the “Columbia neighborhood additionally protested in public areas exterior the College’s gates, which the NYPD was answerable for managing.”
“As all the time, we monitored to make sure exercise on our campus was secure and complied with our guidelines and insurance policies, together with the instant enforcement of insurance policies to forestall discrimination or the concentrating on of our neighborhood members in any type,” the college stated.
Anti-Israel protesters collect close to Columbia College on March 4, 2025. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu)
Three Barnard Faculty college students had been just lately expelled after breaking into Columbia’s Hamilton Corridor in April of final yr.
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“It’s our obligation to make sure that warfare criminals and genociders by no means really feel welcomed on our campus, regardless of invites from teams reminiscent of Hillel,” Columbia College chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (Columbia JVP) stated in an Instagram submit saying a location for the protest.
The Instagram submit consists of images of an e mail invitation for the occasion asking attendees to “decrease discussing this occasion with others” and describing their visitor’s id as “confidential.”
“The group of people who tried to disrupt the occasion proved that this was a essential precaution,” Cohen stated of the choice to make the occasion invite-only. “We’re grateful that, as a consequence of our cautious planning, NYPD prevented the protesters from attending to the venue. At no level was our occasion impacted by the disruptions exterior.
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“I sit up for the day once we can, as soon as once more, host essential instructional alternatives like this for the broader College neighborhood,” Cohen stated.
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Columbia College Jews for Ceasefire additionally issued an announcement on Tuesday forward of the protests, saying Barnard Hillel “disadvantaged the overwhelming majority of the scholar physique a chance to interact in crucial discourse with an elected official with true political energy.”
“That is at odds with CBHillel’s repeated calls for for a campus tradition open to dialogue, particularly provided that this dialogue is concerning the very concern that sparked such calls for,” the group wrote in its assertion.
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The protest got here after President Donald Trump stated earlier this week that “Federal Funding will STOP for any Faculty, College, or College that enables unlawful protests.”
A crowd gathers exterior Columbia College to protest a go to by former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on March 4, 2025. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu)
On Monday, the Division of Well being and Human Companies (HHS), Division of Training (ED), and the U.S. Common Companies Administration (GSA) introduced a evaluation of Columbia’s federal contracts and grants in mild of latest anti-Israel protests “for potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,” in response to an HHS press launch.
The Federal Authorities’s Job Drive to Fight Anti-Semitism is contemplating halting $51.4 million in federal authorities contracts to the college, HHS stated. The duty pressure can even evaluation greater than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to the Ivy League college.
“Anti-Semitism – like racism – is a religious and ethical illness that sickens societies and kills folks with lethalities similar to historical past’s most dangerous plagues,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. stated in a Monday assertion. “Lately, the censorship and false narratives of woke cancel tradition have reworked our nice universities into greenhouses for this lethal and virulent pestilence. Making America wholesome means constructing communities of belief and mutual respect, primarily based on speech freedom and open debate.”
Anti-Israel and pro-Israel demonstrators confront one another exterior Columbia College on March 4, 2025. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu)
Hamas and Israel’s latest ceasefire deal, which paused the lethal warfare, has led Hamas to launch 10 Israeli hostages and 5 Thai nationals kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, in alternate for Palestinian prisoners and elevated humanitarian support into Gaza. Six Individuals stay in Gaza.
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Greater than 46,000 Palestinians have died within the warfare, half of whom are believed to be girls and youngsters, although that quantity may very well be greater, in response to the Palestinian Well being Ministry. Greater than 90% of the roughly two million Palestinians dwelling in Gaza had been displaced through the warfare.
Fox Information’ Alexis McAdams and Madison Colombo contributed to this report.
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