Reporter's notebook'It’s distasteful. It’s hateful. It’s morally reprehensible'

Anti-Israel activists show their true face at Columbia as students mark year since Oct. 7

Supporters of the Jewish state cap a difficult year amid raucous demonstrations by rival anti-Israel groups at NYC school that has been a hotspot since Hamas onslaught sparked the war

Reporter at The Times of Israel

  • Anti-Israel protesters hold up posters behind a student attending a rally to mourn victims on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
    Anti-Israel protesters hold up posters behind a student attending a rally to mourn victims on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
  • Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
    Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
  • Columbia University sophomore Noah Lederman, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)
    Columbia University sophomore Noah Lederman, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)
  • Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP)
    Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP)
  • Left to right: Ariel Nurieli, Ezra Saragosse, and Mikael Rochman stand together on the main campus of Columbia University, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)
    Left to right: Ariel Nurieli, Ezra Saragosse, and Mikael Rochman stand together on the main campus of Columbia University, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)
  • Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
    Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
  • Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
    Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
  • Yeshiva University student Kfir Slominski came to show support for Columbia University students, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)
    Yeshiva University student Kfir Slominski came to show support for Columbia University students, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)
  • Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
    Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
  • Abigail Fixel, a Columbia University junior and president of the Columbia University Jewish Students Union chapter of Jewish on Campus, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)
    Abigail Fixel, a Columbia University junior and president of the Columbia University Jewish Students Union chapter of Jewish on Campus, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)
  • Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
    Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
  • Pro-Israel protestors gather outside Columbia University as they mark one year since the Hamas-led terror onslaught that killed 1,200 in southern Israel, in New York, on October 7, 2024. (Photo by kena betancur / AFP)
    Pro-Israel protestors gather outside Columbia University as they mark one year since the Hamas-led terror onslaught that killed 1,200 in southern Israel, in New York, on October 7, 2024. (Photo by kena betancur / AFP)

NEW YORK — Standing sentinel on the grassy lawn of Columbia University’s main quad on Monday were over a dozen 10-foot-tall milk cartons, each bearing the face of an American citizen kidnapped by Hamas terrorists exactly one year after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Previously shown outside the Democratic National Convention, “Memory Lane: October 7th Art Installation,” was meant to be a contemplative experience, as many of the 251 people kidnapped and 1,200 murdered in southern Israel during the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre include family members and friends of students.

But with metal barricades and dividers, scores of public safety officers and anti-Israel protesters chanting “The only solution is intifada revolution,” and “We will win,” the tension on campus was palpable.

“This day is about the victims, the hostages. It’s about the families. It’s not about us. We can only show up and be proud to be Jewish,” said sophomore Noah Lederman.

Wearing an “AE Pi Stands With Israel” t-shirt and Israeli flag, Lederman said the day is particularly difficult given the outward displays of anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism.

“This is a day of mourning. It’s distasteful. It’s hateful. It’s morally reprehensible. To see such a display of hate today, it’s morally corrupt. I can’t fathom the kind of person who does this. It’s not about free speech, this is a celebration of terror,” said Lederman, who was physically harassed by an anti-Israel student at a demonstration last year.

Abigail Fixel, a Columbia University junior and president of the Columbia University Jewish Students Union chapter of Jewish on Campus, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)

Abigail Fixel, a junior and president of the Columbia University chapter of Jewish on Campus, said she’s still processing the installation and the counterprotest.

“I stood there for almost an hour with my jaw on the floor. To see my peers, some of whom I’ve had intense discussions with this past year, walking around and chanting, is unbelievable. I just don’t see how that can anything but a celebration of what happened on October 7,” Fixel said.

In the weeks leading up to the October 7 anniversary, Jewish student groups, including Students Supporting Israel, Columbia/Barnard Hillel, Chabad at Columbia University, and Aryeh at Columbia/Barnard Hillel, had asked the school’s interim president Katrina Armstrong to allow the Columbia Jewish community to mourn openly. While the installation was approved, several other events will be held indoors and closed to press, including the evening’s Columbia/Barnard Hillel program.

Because the Morningside Heights campus remains closed to outsiders through Wednesday, this reporter was required to have an escort from the university office of public affairs and was only permitted 30 minutes on campus.

Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Outside the university’s main gates at 116th and Broadway dozens of Jewish Americans and Israelis from around the city gathered behind barricades to call for the release of the hostages — 97 of whom are still being held in Gaza, though not all are believed to be alive — and to mourn the lives lost on October 7. Organized by Fight Jew Hate and Shai Davidai, an assistant professor at Columbia Business School, the event aimed to contrast with the anti-Israel demonstration taking place on the steps of Low Library.

“It’s important to show our presence, for people to hear our voices,” said Kfir Slonimski, a student at Yeshiva University and president of YU’s Students Supporting Israel.

Wearing an Israeli flag like a cape, Slominski, whose family lives in northern Israel, said he’s been shocked and bewildered by the levels of antisemitism here.

“To see the Hamas flag, the Hezbollah flag, the Iranian flag. It’s not a game, it can lead to violence,” he said.

Yeshiva University student Kfir Slominski came to show support for Columbia University students, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)

Earlier Monday morning, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), an unrecognized campus group, staged a walkout as part of a citywide “Students Flood NYC for Gaza” initiative. The demonstration was organized by Within Our Lifetime, an openly pro-Hamas group that calls for Israel’s destruction.

In their call to action, CUAD urged protesters to mask their faces, wear all black, and conceal any identifying markings such as tattoos, birthmarks, and piercings, according to a Friday Instagram post.

The Times of Israel asked several students wearing keffiyehs to comment on the morning’s events; all declined to speak with the press.

The demonstrators’ chanting was so loud that even when the teaching assistant in Lederman’s classroom shut the windows, the chants could still be heard, he said.

Columbia University sophomore Noah Lederman, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)

Since October 7, CUAD has openly supported organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah — recognized as terror groups by the US and other governments — and glorified terror attacks. “On October 1, in a significant act of resistance, a shooting took place in Tel Aviv, targeting Israeli security forces and settlers. This bold attack comes amid the ongoing escalation of violence in the region,” reads a CUAD Substack post referring to a shooting and stabbing attack in a Jaffa light rail station that killed seven people and wounded 17.

The victims included a Greek-Jewish architecture student, a mother who was shot while protecting her 9-month-old baby, a dancer, and a comic book artist.

Anti-Israel protest held on the Columbia University campus on October 7, 2024, during a memorial ceremony for the 1, 200 slaughtered by Hamas during its onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, New York. (Documenting Jew Hatred on Campus , Columbia Jewish Alumni Association)

In anticipation of CUAD’s demonstration, the university revoked all guest permits for October 7 through October 9. Since the start of the fall semester, only those with Columbia University ID cards can access the campus. However, until Sunday, guests were allowed access if they had registered in advance.

“This walkout was not registered through the process established by the Guidelines to the Rules of University Conduct and thus is not sanctioned by the University Senate or the University administration. We continue to implement public safety measures to plan for every eventuality. We take those concerns with extreme seriousness,” read an October 6 statement by Armstrong.

Armstrong also announced enhanced public safety measures on campus through Wednesday, including an increased public safety presence, additional metal barricades and dividers, as well as restricted access, according to the statement.

The anniversary comes as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has reported more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the United States since the October 7 Hamas atrocities in Israel. Of those, at least 1,200 occurred on college campuses, compared with 200 incidents during the same period a year before. This is the highest number of incidents ever recorded in any single-year period since the ADL started tracking in 1979.

Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate near a memorial for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, on October 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

“Today, we mourn the victims of the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, marking one year since the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. From that day on, Jewish Americans haven’t had a single moment of respite,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “Instead, we’ve faced a shocking number of antisemitic threats and experienced calls for more violence against Israelis and Jews everywhere.”

During the last school year, Columbia became a focal point for both campus turmoil and the testing of free speech limits.

In the last month, anti-Israel protesters vandalized the Alma Mater statue, an important campus landmark, and staged an unauthorized sit-in inside the lobby of the School of International and Public Affairs.

These demonstrations have put the university in the middle of a national debate about the boundaries of free speech as well as how to deal with the line between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitsm and harassment of Jewish students, according to an August report by an antisemitism taskforce set up by the school.

Left to right: Ariel Nurieli, Ezra Saragosse, and Mikael Rochman stand together on the main campus of Columbia University, October 7, 2024. (Cathryn J. Prince)

Ezra Saragossi, who left campus on October 7 to join his IDF reserve unit, said that since returning to school he’s been focused both on what’s happening on campus and his family and friends in Israel.

Aside from someone shouting “baby killer” out the window at him, the protests have been relatively peaceful, he said.

His classmate Ariel Nurieli, a senior and former IDF soldier, agreed.

“Our music drowned out the chants and we were able to focus on mourning our dead. It’s the hardest day, there were tears,” Nurieli said.

Most Popular
read more: