Students Against Ziofascist Israel’s 2023 to 2024 Genocide of Palestinians — The State of New York

Gregor Flock
29 min readMay 22, 2024

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An article in 4 sections: 1. Columbia University, New York; 2. New York University (NYU); 3. Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY); 4. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Part 3 of a mini-series. For related earlier work, see my articles “US Censorship and Suppression of Ziofascist Israel’s 2023 Genocide of Palestinians”, “Global Protests Against Ziofascist Israel’s 2023 to 2024 Genocide of Palestinians,” “The Ziofascist Israeli Network in the USA and Its Nefarios Activities at US Universities” (part 1) and “The Ziofascist Israeli Network Reacts to US Students Protesting the 2023 to 2024 Genocide of Palestinians” (part 2).

1. Columbia University, New York

March 12

Meet the Ziofascist Columbia administration:

https://x.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1767659055907053789
https://x.com/prem_thakker/status/1807893868811047010

April 21

https://twitter.com/OopsGuess/status/1782083915014169074
https://twitter.com/FrancescaHumi/status/1782096213241655544
https://twitter.com/FrancescaHumi/status/1782096215921803525; https://thetab.com/uk/london/2018/10/07/confirmed-face-of-charlottesville-unite-the-right-protest-now-a-student-at-lse-32755
https://twitter.com/FrancescaHumi/status/1782096219226935635; https://thebeaverlse.co.uk/students-grill-minouche/
https://twitter.com/FrancescaHumi/status/1782096221949051171 to https://twitter.com/FrancescaHumi/status/1782097923431379242; https://decolonisinglse.wordpress.com/resources/
https://x.com/moorehn/status/1782076075561943368; https://thebeaverlse.co.uk/sexual-misconduct-investigation/
https://x.com/moorehn/status/1782076246265872522
https://x.com/BTnewsroom/status/1782142317207363839

“The graduating students in this encampment will not move until our demands are met.”

April 22

https://twitter.com/ecomarxi/status/1782514162280669695; also https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1782516736547278856
https://twitter.com/JoshuaPHilll/status/1782483847361462332
https://twitter.com/JoshuaPHilll/status/1782484977390923922; https://twitter.com/hibabouakar/status/1782474808116088925

From the Ziofascists:

https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1782248357324276220

Insane Ziofascist propagandist Shai Davidai: “Right now we are not okay!”

https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1782250921533083726; https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1782425759803462140
https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1782436863975837884
https://twitter.com/JackFought_1/status/1782230835053146162
https://twitter.com/MYejo71/status/1782385830629101615
https://twitter.com/CensoredMen/status/1782728237061415118

After throwing a foot-stomping tantrum earlier this morning, Shai Davidai, an untenured Columbia University business professor, was denied access to parts of campus.

A self-proclaimed Zionist, Davidai is an Israeli-American who served in the IDF (“proud of it”) and has continually harassed Columbia’s pro-Palestine activists, labeling them anti-semitic, pro-Hamas “terrorists.”

On several occasions, Davidai called for the National Guard to be brought in to brutalize pro-Palestine students. He’s even gone so far as to characterize Columbia protestors as “Hitler-youth.”

Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine have started a petition to have him fired.

There is a laundry list of complaints lodged against Davidai, most recently by 15 Jewish students at Columbia who were arrested and suspended last week during their occupation protest demanding the school divest from Israel.

In a Jewish Voice for Peace Instagram post, the students called out Davidai directly, writing:

“Futhermore, the disgraceful Shai Davidai publically called us Judenrat Kapos, and told us we would be on ‘the last train to Auschwitz.’ We do not feel safe with this professor still teaching on campus, having access to the Jewish community spaces we cherish, much less portraying himself as a valiant protector and spokesperson of Jews on campus while insulting our ancestors’ memory. Almost every suspended Jewish student lost family members in the Holocaust.”

Davidai comes from a long line of assholes. His father, Eli Davidai, is an Israeli business executive who served as General Manager of ARC, which describes itself as a “leading global advanced manufacturing service provider.”

According to ARC’s 2018 SEC filing:

“Eli Davidai, [ARC’s] General Manager of Operations as of May 2017, has been a Managing Director at QMI [Quadrant Management Inc.] since 1992, where he is responsible for making investments and overseeing companies at the firm. Additionally, Mr. Davidai was elected to the Company’s Board of Directors on June 5, 2018.”

Among other things, ARC manufactures weapons parts, including “polymer magazine for NATO Compatible weapons,” “triggers and hammers,” “precision guided munitions components,” and more.

In 2016, ARC won an award for an AR-15 component and, in 2010, scored a prize for an “explosive device made for a Department of Defense application.”

ARC also makes parts for MCX and MPX rifles, which are used by the Israeli military.

As you probably guessed by his crybaby antics, Shai’s parents are disgustingly rich. Eli and his wife, Zohara Davidai, sponsored The Davidai Arrhythmia Center in Tel Hashomer, Israel, where Benjamin Netanyahu was fitted for a pacemaker last year. […]

https://twitter.com/prem_thakker/status/1782488381160612033
https://x.com/_waleedshahid/status/1782394199473611045
https://x.com/_waleedshahid/status/1782413818305389032; https://novaramedia.com/2024/03/01/a-pro-israel-group-is-trying-to-intimidate-palestine-protesters-with-claims-of-infiltration/

The group also claimed to offer cash compensation to “individuals with Arabic-sounding names and Middle Eastern appearance”, who it said “may be uniquely positioned for deeper infiltration” into the Palestine movement, and to provide recruits with training from “one of our ex-Mossad team leads”.

But screenshots from Shirion’s internal Telegram channel, shared with Novara Media by Australian antifascist research group the White Rose Society, indicate that such claims might be more bluff than reality.

Commenting on the callout for infiltrators posted on X/Twitter — which has over half a million views at the time of writing — Shirion digital volunteers discussed how they hoped this tweet alone would sow distrust amongst Palestine supporters.

“We won’t need to do anything,” one volunteer wrote. “They [supporters of Palestine] will:

1. Tone down

2. Police their own

3. Maybe even beat up their own just because they think those are us

And all accomplished just by ONE tweet. Doesn’t even cost a cent.”

“They are horrified!,” another volunteer said, noting the online response to the X/Twitter post. “Now they won’t be able to trust their own shadows!”

Zionism is Antisemitism, lesson 578:

https://twitter.com/simonerzim/status/1782529483062280662
https://twitter.com/simonerzim/status/1782529485104980045 to https://twitter.com/simonerzim/status/1782529494139433024
https://twitter.com/simonerzim/status/1782529496123404743 to https://twitter.com/simonerzim/status/1782537234152870038

Cases in point:

https://twitter.com/MOSSADil/status/1782453799757504683
https://twitter.com/prem_thakker/status/1782497773008331174
https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1782560097484361923; https://twitter.com/Sandia_Beaver/status/1782560647458304461

April 23

https://twitter.com/itslaylas/status/1782547690800242737
https://twitter.com/itslaylas/status/1782549440500281431
https://twitter.com/DavidCStark6/status/1782780310121287926; https://twitter.com/DavidCStark6/status/1782780310121287926/photo/1
https://twitter.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/1782777897024930154
https://twitter.com/Kahlissee/status/1782826724813656361

Another insane self-absorbed Zionist like Shai Davidai makes a scene:

https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1782856652745503059

Insane Ziofascist woman with a severe victimhood complex: “I’m not afraid! Look at my face! I am not afraid! Put-my-face-on-camera! Show my face! Doxx-me! Doxx-me! Doxx-me! Doxx-me! I-will-not-be-afraid! I-am-proud! [of what? Your publicly displayed insanity and attention-whoring?]

Although disruptive, the insane Zionist woman at least gave the good female dancer more views:

https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1782856652745503059
https://twitter.com/Joe_Wordsmith/status/1782933977529298969

A Columbia and Palestine anecdote:

https://twitter.com/ireallyhateyou/status/1782552705149329522

Speculations about who a veiled female black propaganda Ziofascist at Columbia might be fell on the known Ziofascist black propaganda operative Logan Levkoff:

https://twitter.com/LoganLevkoff/status/1782771686925852994; https://twitter.com/jvgraz/status/1782637199454060939
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1782996129279262767
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1783192372454494546
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1783194978757349524
https://twitter.com/MemeIndustrial/status/1783201198415437875
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1783199574560997380
https://twitter.com/Davidlederer6/status/1781944543560044923
https://twitter.com/JamesKroeger5/status/1783215963225178231

Another transparent (because absurdly over the top) attempt of Ziofascist black propaganda to discredit the pro-Palestine movement can be observed here:

https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1783252302356512775; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9QbINUwGy4

Ziofascist black propagandist disguised as pro-Palestine protestor [note how their face is once again hidden]: “

April 24

https://twitter.com/loffredojeremy/status/1782994615391449360
https://twitter.com/loffredojeremy/status/1782999714327060888
https://twitter.com/ofercass/status/1783249447700357454
https://twitter.com/ofercass/status/1783249447700357454

April 26

https://twitter.com/loffredojeremy/status/1783651274975523285

April 29

https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1784760900257214523https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1784760265071849815
https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1784760900257214523
https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1784761837550264731
https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1784773076644708433

The above also raises a very interesting question, because if Columbia General Studies dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch coordinates with IDF veterans to disrupt pro-human rights pro-Palestinian protests and since it was IDF veterans who conducted the January 19 chemical weapon attack at Columbia University against pro-human rights pro-Palestinian student protesters, then was that attack okayed by Columbia dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch who may very well be yet another Ziofascist infiltrator?

https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1785058034772807928
https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1785063621304750168 to https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1785081486590283995
https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1785091620053893122

Psychotic, mendacious and fake Jewish victimhood in New York City from Douglas J. Davis, a lawyer and music executive:

https://twitter.com/NizMhani/status/1784927464667431246

Narrator’s voice: “Douglas J. Davis [a lawyer and music executive] falsely accused an uber driver of anti-Antisemitism because his family was too big for the car. Four times Grammy award winner booked an Uber black car for 4 instead of an SUV for 5 without child seats. And when the driver refused to transport them for safety reasons, the man immediately started playing victim.”

Douglas J. Davis: “I’m being harrassed. You are racially profiling us. […] You’re threatening me. You’re threatening me. You’re threatening me. I feel threatened. You’re threatening my children. […] You got out of the car, you’re the aggressor. That’s how the law works.

Uber driver: “I’m closing the door.”

Douglas J. Davis: “I heard you say under your breath they look Jewish.”

Uber driver: “What?!”

Douglas J. Davis: “I heard you say ‘I don’t wanna take Jews’”

Uber driver: “You’re sick! You’re sick! […]”

https://twitter.com/NizMhani/status/1784927464667431246

April 30

https://twitter.com/m7mdkurd/status/1785170608797503730
https://twitter.com/m7mdkurd/status/1785181492714307732
https://twitter.com/normfinkelstein/status/1785266244997747186
https://twitter.com/JamesKroeger5/status/1785274812081881510
https://twitter.com/YonahLieberman/status/1785138859715469415

Jewish Columbia professor: “Israel […] couldn’t do what it’s doing without the support of the United States. So students in the United States think we have a responsibility. […] we have a responsibility as Americans to do something about it. What’s being done is being done in my name as an American and being done in my name as a Jew, and those things are unbearable to me.

https://twitter.com/Resist_05/status/1785147387960504626

May 1

https://x.com/WarWatchs/status/1785434458855813310
https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1784647355775541353; https://twitter.com/loffredojeremy/status/1785473709987213737
https://twitter.com/loffredojeremy/status/1785539829771444432

NYPD Police officer [pointing]: “Two there, that’s fine. [beckoning to others] Let’s go. In the house.”

https://twitter.com/pbgomez_/status/1785554192574423404; https://twitter.com/Dom_R52/status/1785637061606637687; https://twitter.com/isabelle_leyva/status/1785614156592288052

NYPD Lieutenant Michael Butler: “Guys, back it up, back it up.”

Woman with camera: “I’m a legal observer, please talk to your legal team, I’m allowed to…”

NYPD Lieutenant Michael Butler: “I don’t need to talk to anybody, get out of our face.” […]

Woman with camera: “I was not in your face. Filming things that you’re doing that violate your own handbook is not being in your face.” […]

https://twitter.com/isabelle_leyva/status/1785614156592288052

Black student to policeman: “[…] pushing girls? You got daughters? That’s crazy.”

https://twitter.com/isabelle_leyva/status/1785614156592288052
https://twitter.com/Ash_Prashar/status/1785461022519668771; https://twitter.com/katie_honan/status/1785432932938621109
https://twitter.com/JeffSchuhrke/status/1785678218147565895; https://twitter.com/JCColtin/status/1785669654683271226
https://twitter.com/shallowmanly/status/1785688817640329601; https://twitter.com/Ali2Mukhtar/status/1786028240001446037
https://twitter.com/LailaAlarian/status/1785481861226967471

May 2

https://twitter.com/Powerfulmindx/status/1785978472441028819
https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1786103595277992177
https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1786104418871427250; https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1786106586781331787; https://theintercept.com/2024/05/01/nyc-gaza-college-protests-police-outside-agitators/

A lone Trash can lay on its side at the intersection of W. 139th St and Amsterdam Ave in Harlem, in front of the gates of the City College of New York.

At around 11 p.m. on Tuesday night, this was the extent of damaged property that I witnessed outside the college campus. At the same time, New York Police Department officers in riot regalia had amassed in their hundreds, including members of the Strategic Response Group — a unit dedicated to public unrest and “counterterrorism.”

More police had stormed through the school’s neo-Gothic gates less than an hour before, at the behest of the college’s president, to arrest protesting students en masse.

Twenty blocks south, police had locked down and barricaded all streets in a two-block radius of Columbia University, brutally arresting students inside the inaccessible campus.

Between Columbia and City College, over 200 protesters — almost all students — were arrested before the night was out.

It was a police response reminiscent of the repression that met protesters in the 2020 George Floyd uprisings. Nearly four years ago, police also responded with extraordinary violence to a mass protest. Then, the alleged provocation involved crucial acts of militant resistance, including low-level but widespread property damage, scattered looting, and the burning of several empty police vehicles.

Tuesday was different. In recent days on the campuses in Manhattan and across the country, massive police operations came in response to peaceful student encampments. Students gathered to share food, maintaining space to hold teach-ins and rallies, and demand their universities divest from Israel.

At Columbia, student protesters took over one university building: Hamilton Hall, the same building seized by students in 1968 in protest of the Vietnam War. At most, the latest building occupation saw a few broken windowpanes and some furniture moved around.

The negligible acts of property damage were not, of course, what was being policed. Nor was the holding of campus space; students have done this before in recent decades without their university administrators inviting the force of militarized police.

Instead, it was the protesters’ message that was being handcuffed — the condemnation of Israel and the calls for a free Palestine — and young peoples’ commitment to it.

I have been reporting on political dissent and violent policing for 15 years, particularly in New York City. Compared to Tuesday night, I have never witnessed, at the scene of a protest, the use of police power so disproportionate to the type of demonstration taking place.

Make no mistake: This is an authoritarian escalation.

[…]

New York Mayor Eric Adams trotted it out as grounds for sending in an army of baton-wielding cops against the city’s students. And Deputy Police Commissioner Tarik Sheppard went even further on MSNBC Wednesday morning, brandishing an unremarkable chain lock — the sort of which I’ve seen on bikes everywhere — as proof that “professionals,” not students themselves, had carried out the takeover of the Columbia building.

https://twitter.com/macfathom/status/1785699215550677057

The bike-lock business quickly came in for rightly deserved mockery, but the “outside agitator” myth is no joking matter.

In this current moment, the “outside agitators” conjured are both the perennial anarchist bogeymen or Islamist terror groups sending funds to keep student encampments flush with the cheapest tents available online.

The “outside agitator” trope has a long, racist legacy, including use by the Ku Klux Klan. In the 1930s, the Klan issued flyers in Alabama claiming that “paid organizers for the communists are only trying” to get Black people “in trouble.” The allegation does double rhetorical harm by denying the agency and commitment of organizers themselves and suggesting that “outside” support from beyond a given locale or institution is somehow a bad thing. […]

https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1786106925085553042; https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1786110238313054255; https://palestinelegal.org/news/2024/4/25/columbia-students-file-civil-rights-complaint-after-nypd-arrests-national-guard-threat

April 25, New York, NY — Today, Palestine Legal filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), demanding an investigation into Columbia University’s discriminatory treatment of Palestinian students and their allies, including by inviting NYPD officers in riot gear — for the first time in decades — to arrest over a hundred students peacefully protesting Israel’s genocide last week.

The complaint comes one day after Columbia suggested the National Guard could be brought in to remove student protesters — implying state violence could be used on campus.

The complaint alleges how, for more than six months, Palestinian students, Arabs, Muslims, students perceived to be Palestinian, and students associated with or advocating for Palestinians, have been the target of extreme anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic harassment, including receiving multiple death threats, being harassed for wearing keffiyehs or hijab, doxed, stereotyped, being treated differently by high-ranking administrators including Columbia University President Minouche Shafik, an attack with a chemical agent that led to at least 10 students requiring hospitalization and dozens of others, including a Palestinian student, seeking medical attention, and more.

Palestine Legal is representing four students and the student group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), who have all been the target of anti-Palestinian discrimination and harassment by fellow students, professors, and/or Columbia 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. “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. The violent repression we’re facing as peaceful anti-war protesters is appalling. Palestinian students at Columbia deserve justice and accountability, not only for Israel’s decades-long oppression and violence against our people, but for the racism and discrimination we’ve experienced here on Columbia’s campus.”

Columbia has actively contributed to pervasive racism and discrimination against Palestinian students on campus, causing both mental and physical harm. For example, students have been arrested, assaulted, suspended, locked out of campus and their classes, forced to seek medical attention, and forced to drop classes and delay their own graduation.

After bringing NYPD officers in riot gear to violently arrest students peacefully protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza, university leaders alarmingly threatened that the National Guard would be brought in to forcibly remove the peaceful students from their own campus. This disturbing threat of military violence is gravely concerning. Columbia University has a responsibility to protect all of its students — including Palestinians and their supporters — and should not threaten police or military violence to attack or intimidate them.

[…]

Palestine Legal has documented trends in repression based on the over 2200 incidents of suppression of Palestinian rights advocacy the organization responded to between 2014 and 2022, many involving harassment and censorship attempts by university administrations and right-wing organizations aimed at intimidating Palestinians and their supporters into silence and inaction. Since October 7th alone, the organization has received reports of over 1,800 incidents, over five times the number we received in all of 2022, reflecting an exponential rise in anti-Palestinian repression across the US.

In March 2024, Palestine Legal, together with NYCLU sued Columbia over its suspension of SJP and Jewish Voice for Peace for their peaceful protest.

May 4

https://twitter.com/ecomarxi/status/1786670545733374415

Ziofascist Minouche Shafik: “Columbia should be a community that feels welcoming and safe for everyone” [then why did you make Columbia unsafe for pro-Palestine, pro-human rights students?!]. We tried very hard to resolve the issue of the encampment through dialogue. Many people who gathered there were largely peaceful and cared deeply for the humanitarian crisis[?] in Gaza. Academic leaders talked with students for eight days and nights. The university made a sincere and good offer, but it was not accepted [divest or fuck off!].

A group of protestors crossed a new line with the occupation of Hamilton Hall. It was a violent act that put our students at risk [is genocide not violent act?], as well as putting the protesters at risk[!]. I walked through the building and saw the damage, which was distressing [have you seen the damage in Gaza? Do you think the people there are distressed?].

But despite all that has happened, I have confidence. […] the ones who impressed me the most [how is that relevant?] were the ones who acknowledged that the other side had some valid points [= bothsidesing propaganda]. We need more of that at Columbia. […]

https://twitter.com/AliAlmousawi86/status/1786680692505464945; https://twitter.com/LittleLeinaa/status/1786674511678681215; https://twitter.com/paulalexandernz/status/1786693005568827570

May 5

https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1787149745988710599
https://twitter.com/LTrotsky21/status/1787171417370321394

Kontsevich ‘coincidentally’ also has close ties to Ziofascist Israel:

https://twitter.com/KeithRuscitti/status/1787157170682814709/photo/1
https://twitter.com/LTrotsky21/status/1787171417370321394

May 7

https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1787949114300219824

“Quit your job, Minouche. Quit your job. How dare you treat your students like this? I hope you feel terrible. You should be ashamed of yourself. You should be ashamed. How can you call the NYPD on your own students? How can you do that? How can you do that? How much are they paying you? To treat your students like trash, like criminals. They pulled a gun on us. How dare you? Quit your job, we don’t want you here, you’re a shame to Columbia, you’re a shame to us. Quit your job.”

More physical attacks at Columbia by Ziofascists:

https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1787859998950789185
https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1787866394022805859
https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1787868669386670250
https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1787881281914655106
https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1787881284779356295; https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1787881577482944745; https://twitter.com/cvltistkid/status/1787872102353093003
https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1787892676588625948
https://twitter.com/ColumbiaBDS/status/1787917915527778406/photo/1
https://twitter.com/ColumbiaBDS/status/1787917915527778406/photo/2

May 8

https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1787974311451705741; https://twitter.com/ageofblasphemy/status/1787972566390554730
https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1787974558537974134 to https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1787977203537338519

May 9

https://twitter.com/prem_thakker/status/1788594988969763246
https://twitter.com/prem_thakker/status/1788594988969763246; https://wearecolumbia.org/

May 10

https://twitter.com/Palestine_UN/status/1788974202277568682

May 12

https://twitter.com/Mondoweiss/status/1789626591707869441; https://mondoweiss.net/2024/05/theyve-sparked-resistance-around-the-world-a-columbia-68er-salutes-the-24-uprising/
https://x.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1789495574640595363

Jewish Columbia student Jared: “My first name is Jared, I’m a master’s student at Columbia, I’m Jewish and I’m pissed.”

Interviewer: “Tell me why you’re pissed.”

Jewish Columbia student Jared: “When thousands of Jewish people have come together over the past months to say ‘not in our name’, this is what we’re talking about. We don’t want police brought onto campus to beat up people and arrest people for practicing their First Amendment rights in our name. We don’t want Israel committing a genocide in Gaza in our name. The role of anti-Zionist Jews, non-Zionist Jews and Jews who just don’t like genocide — which should be everybody — has been very important in pushing this movement forward.”

“I’m a Jewish faculty member who’s been involved from the very beginning, try to work against this narrative that any criticism of Israel is antisemitism. Because part of the reason that some Jewish students feel unsafe is that they’re hearing that criticism of Israel — and they think it means that it’s anti-Jewish hatred. […] we need to separate that.”

May 17

https://x.com/SDonziger/status/1791248974571057253

May 31

https://x.com/prem_thakker/status/1796600230928093277; https://theintercept.com/2024/05/31/columbia-gaza-student-protest-discipline-changes/

On Wednesday night, a group of Columbia Law students wrote a 32-page letter addressed to Columbia administrators that accused the university of imposing “egregious and draconian restrictions on the already non-existent due process protections.”

The letter charges the school with letting a newly created office impose unprecedented rules that infringe upon student protections, including by preventing students from having legal or personal supporters during hearings, and imposing arbitrary time limits on when they can communicate with those supporters.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen Columbia really weaponize its disciplinary process against students speaking out for Palestinian human rights,” Bassam Khawaja, a lecturer at Columbia Law School, told The Intercept. “And unlike police arrests, this process happens in virtual silence, but carries significant consequences for their academic standing and future careers. It’s hard to see this wildly disproportionate response as anything other than an attempt to chill speech on this issue.”

Some of the process changes, the law student letter said, came in a May 29 email received by students on Wednesday — one day before they were set to face disciplinary hearings for being suspected of posting flyers accusing the school’s board of complicity in genocide. The email was sent out by the school’s Center for Student Success and Intervention, an office formed in 2022.

While the latest apparent rule changes came just hours before hearings were set to take place, the hearings have now been indefinitely postponed, according to campus sources. (Columbia declined to comment.)

Almost as quickly as the protest movement emerged at Columbia, the school was accused of making ad hoc changes to longstanding policies in order to crack down on demonstrators. The tactic of shifting polities to crack down on protests — one used as far back as the attacks on the University of California, Berkeley Free Speech Movement in the 1960s — has since spread to other colleges across the country. […]

June 1

https://x.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1796679640188063936

June 2

Unhinged Ziofascist ‘Irish Tudtud’: “Nobody cares about you, you are ugly! Raaaapist! Raaaaapiiiiist!” […]

Student: “What’s your name?”

Unhinged Ziofascist ‘Irish Tudtud’: “Raaaapiiiist! You can doxx me all you want!”

https://x.com/itslaylas/status/1797103950266552495
https://x.com/itslaylas/status/1797288783836025162

June 5

https://x.com/ggreenwald/status/1798361925275041975
https://x.com/AP/status/1798127766602195072; https://apnews.com/article/columbia-law-review-israel-article-backlash-da2f924cddec4593b4f17b8baf500969

Student editors at the Columbia Law Review say they were pressured by the journal’s board of directors to halt publication of an academic article written by a Palestinian human rights lawyer that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and upholding an apartheid regime.

When the editors refused the request and published the piece Monday morning, the board — made up of faculty and alumni from Columbia University’s law school — shut down the law review’s website entirely. It remained offline Tuesday evening, a static homepage informing visitors the domain “is under maintenance.”

The episode at one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious legal journals marks the latest flashpoint in an ongoing debate about academic speech that has deeply divided students, staff and college administrators since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Several editors at the Columbia Law Review described the board’s intervention as an unprecedented breach of editorial independence at the periodical, which is run by students at Columbia Law School. The board of directors oversees the nonprofit’s finances but has historically played no role in selecting pieces.

June 6

https://x.com/prem_thakker/status/1798777751064989834;

After the Columbia Law Review’s board of directors responded to the publication of an article about Palestine by taking the prestigious journal completely offline, the students who run CLR voted on Wednesday to reject an offer in a letter from the directors to reinstate the website.

The Columbia Law School students who run CLR were considering a proposal to append a note to the Palestine article disclaiming what the directors, in an unsigned letter to students, described as “secrecy and deviation from the Review’s usual processes.” In the letter proposing the text, the board of directors said it wanted to see the journal put back online.

The student editors rejected the deal for a disclaimer by a 20–5 vote, according to a student and documentation reviewed by The Intercept.

“I think that this whole year, and particularly this last semester, has been about students recognizing, stepping into their power,” said Sohum Pal, a CLR articles editor. “And I’m very glad that the law students at the law review are doing the same.”

When the article on Palestine, titled “Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept,” was published on Monday morning, Rabea Eghbariah became the first Palestinian legal scholar to publish in CLR. But within hours of publication, after months of revisions on the lengthy piece, the board of directors took the journal’s website completely offline, saying they had concerns about the process.

“Powerful legal scholarship cannot be silenced,” said Pal. “It’s already been circulating. It’s already gotten far more views or reads than the average law review article. And, yeah, to the extent that they’re trying to censor Rabea, that simply won’t happen — that simply hasn’t happened and can’t.”

The Intercept was not immediately able to reach members or representatives of the CLR board of directors, which oversees the independent, nonprofit student-led publication, for comment about the vote or the letter.

After voting, the students sent an email to board member Gillian Metzger, a Columbia law professor, saying that if the board continues to hinder the publication of Eghbariah’s piece, the staff of CLR will stop all work on the journal. The email, which was reviewed by The Intercept, said the students would continue to work on the Bluebook, a legal citation guide maintained and updated by four schools’ law reviews, including CLR. (Metzger did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

On Thursday afternoon, the board of directors reinstated the website, including Eghbariah’s article. A link at the bottom of the CLR homepage went to a statement from the board about Eghbariah’s article.

Eghbariah told The Intercept he viewed the board of directors’ actions as an example of a “Palestine exception” to free speech and academic freedom.

“The CLR Board of Directors has yet to contact me or officially explain to me their decision to take down the website, let alone their proposal to add a disclaimer to the article,” Eghbariah said, in a statement received after publication. “The fact that the Board could not cite any substantive deficiencies with the piece but rather resorted to allegations about internal processes, which were rejected by CLR editors, tells me all I need to know. This is not only a Palestine exception in action but also a disingenuous attempt to manufacture controversy that undermines and deflects attention from the content of the article.”

[…]

Disputes over the Gaza war more broadly have spilled into many aspects of university life, with pro-Palestine students often facing consequences ranging from censure, expulsion, and even censorship — including at well-respected academic journals. In November, the Harvard Law Review voted to kill an online article, also by Eghbariah, that had gone through the full editing process.

On Tuesday, the day after The Intercept published its story on the directors’ initial suppression of Eghbariah’s piece, student editors said they received a letter sent on behalf of the board of directors that offered what it said was “the best way to further the many important values at stake.” The proposal in the board letter required that the following statement be attached to Eghbariah’s piece:

“Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept was not subject to the usual processes of review and editing at the Law Review. It was solicited outside of the usual articles selection process and edited and substantiated by a limited number of student editors. Contrary to ordinary practice, it was not made available for all student editors to read. As a result, a number of student editors were unaware of the piece and did not have the usual opportunity to provide input on its content prior to its publication.”

Some of the student editors who worked on Eghbariah’s piece took exception to the directors’ demand. “The letter communicates the Board’s continued stance to usurp and interfere with the student-run editorial process,” Erika Lopez, one of the editors, told The Intercept on Wednesday. “The Board’s seemingly final decision to include a disclaimer is offensive and unprecedented.” […]

October 5: Gil Zussman

https://x.com/itslaylas/status/1842337395464900673
https://x.com/itslaylas/status/1842338145918169106; https://x.com/itslaylas/status/1842339200047485361

October 16: Ziofascist Propagandist and Harrasser Shai Davidai Gets Banned from Columbia

https://x.com/itslaylas/status/1846329303006695454; https://x.com/itslaylas/status/1846360166037323943
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/16/us/columbia-university-suspends-professor-shai-davidai/

Columbia University has temporarily banned pro-Israel professor Shai Davidai from campus for “repeatedly harassing and intimidating” school employees, according to a university spokesperson.

“Because Assistant Professor Davidai repeatedly harassed and intimidated University employees in violation of University policy, we have temporarily limited his access to campus while he undertakes appropriate training on our policies governing the behavior of our employees,” a university spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.

The university said the ban of Davidai, an assistant professor at the university’s business school since 2019, is related to conduct last week at the time of an October 7 commemoration.

The spokesperson also said the school respects Davidai’s right to free speech. “His freedom of speech has not been limited and is not being limited now. Columbia, however, does not tolerate threats of intimidation, harassment, or other threatening behavior by its employees,” the spokesperson added.

The Ivy League school in New York was the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests at US college campuses this spring. In August, university President Minouche Shafik stepped down after she came under criticism for authorizing arrests on campus and for her testimony to the House Education Committee about the university’s handling of antisemitism.

Davidai’s temporary ban was issued about a week after he participated in a memorial service on campus for October 7th in which he posted videos online confronting a university official.

Davidai told CNN he encourages people to watch the videos and assess for themselves whether they think they are harassment.

He took issue with the school’s action. “The only professor that was suspended is the Jewish Israeli professor who called out the support for terrorism on campus,” Davidai said.

Although Davidai is not teaching a class this semester, he cannot go into his office, attend faculty meetings or research seminars and is, “for all intents and purposes removed from university life,” he said.

Plenty of issues remain though, including with law firms:

https://x.com/ProfKFranke/status/1846530229902143580
https://x.com/ProfKFranke/status/1846530231059787848 to https://x.com/ProfKFranke/status/1846530237078581628
https://x.com/ProfKFranke/status/1846530238353653887; https://x.com/ProfKFranke/status/1846530239704318133; https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PRWGwKb2G-nZW5hFQvEi-ARqv3H7GUqt/view?pli=1

2. New York University (NYU)

April 22

https://x.com/BTnewsroom/status/1782348628738097661

April 23

https://twitter.com/Kahlissee/status/1782589277257281733
https://twitter.com/yumna_patel/status/1782576280405418279
https://twitter.com/yumna_patel/status/1782576967264751872
https://twitter.com/yumna_patel/status/1782577528965878092 to https://twitter.com/yumna_patel/status/1782578440056738106
https://twitter.com/nft_noobies/status/1783088972593545439; https://twitter.com/ArielleLAngel/status/1782766565072486878

May 7 and 22

https://x.com/shesinscrubs/status/1795520649139753062

Hesen Jabr: “[…] always hold space for warmth and compassion for all humans. It pains me to see the women from my country going through unimaginable losses themselves during the current genocide in Gaza. This award is deeply personal for me for those reasons. Even though I can’t hold their hands and comfort them as they grieve their unborn children and the children they have lost during this genocide, I hope to keep making them proud as I keep representing them here at NYU. Thank you. [Applause]”

https://x.com/row_ie_argument/status/1795461107039031621; https://x.com/row_ie_argument/status/1795461699270529316
https://x.com/row_ie_argument/status/1795471154133557341

3. Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)

https://x.com/JP_OTG/status/1787590291714637957

From another video and angle — behold the completely insane eyes of the violent, law-breaking and lying Ziofascist woman:

https://x.com/outlivethemnyc/status/1787594218682101956

Jewish man inside car [requesting help]: “Hey Officer! Hey!! Hey!! Hey!!”

insane Ziofascist woman [outright lying and trying to rip or steal the Palestinian keffiyeh from the Jewish man’s neck, thereby again underlining that Zionism is Antisemitism]: “This is mine and he took it! This is mine and he took it! This is mine and he took it! This is mine and he… I’m not letting go until he leaves[?] it off” [reaches into car and toward the Jewish man’s face]

Jewish man inside car: “Don’t touch! Don’t touch!”

Asian police officer: “Ma’m! Ma’m!”

After several police officer hold and draw back the insane Ziofascist woman, she begins to shout and threaten the Jewish man:

insane Ziofascist woman: “I saw you at HSS. Ok, you’re in trouble from HSS. I’m reporting you to HSS!”

Comments:

https://x.com/LAMMYBKNY/status/1787604392147071186 to https://x.com/Draptorss/status/1787605352415899766
https://x.com/JavierSorianoNY/status/1787949421516239227; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olw-SjUTZcc; https://www.50-a.org/

4. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

April 27

https://twitter.com/MomodouTaal/status/1784007965588041946

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Gregor Flock
Gregor Flock

Written by Gregor Flock

independent philosopher (univie.academia.edu/GregorFlock) and journalist, Global Civil Society Network founder (www.gcsno.org/my-blog/), Tweets @GFlock_GCSN.

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