Amid tensions over student demonstrations, Biden denounces anti-Semitism on campuses
On Sunday, US President Joe Biden denounced anti-Semitic sentiment on college campuses. Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University are on their fifth day of demanding that the university cut all financial links with Israel, a significant US ally.
Because of Israel’s battle with Hamas terrorists and the resulting humanitarian situation in Gaza, students camped out on university grounds are demanding that the prominent New York institution, which has an exchange program with Tel Aviv University, boycott any events related to Israel.
“We’ve even witnessed calls for violence against Jews and harassment of them in recent days. The Jewish festival of Passover starts on Monday night. “This blatant anti-Semitism is repugnant and dangerous — and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country,” Biden said in a statement before to the holiday.
Since the October 7 Hamas assault and Israel’s subsequent bombing of Gaza, universities have been the center of significant cultural discussion in the United States, with many students’ pro-Palestinian stances attracting allegations of anti-Semitism.
According to CNN, a rabbi connected to an Orthodox Jewish student group at Columbia “strongly” recommended Jewish students to return home on Sunday.
Rabbi Elie Buechler sent a memo to around 300 students stating that recent occurrences “have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the (New York Police Department) NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety,” according to CNN.
However, Hillel, a different Jewish group at Columbia, said on X, the old Twitter, that although Jewish students shouldn’t leave campus, the institution should “do more to ensure the safety of our students.”
“A group of around 10 pro-Israel counterprotesters faced instances of anti-Semitism at (campus landmark) the Sundial Saturday night, according to interviews with students and videos,” the student newspaper the Columbia Spectator reported on Saturday night.
“Music continued to play as students, some laying on blue tarps, others sitting in camping chairs with laptops, talked among themselves,” the Spectator said during the rally on Sunday.
Pictures shared on social media Pro-Palestinian Muslim and Jewish students seemed to be praying together on Friday at the so-called “Gaza solidarity encampment.”
Arrested students
On Thursday, tensions reached a peak when 108 demonstrators were taken into custody after university president Nemat Shafik’s request for police assistance to disperse the group, claiming they had breached school security policies.
There were “no incidents,” according to New York Police Chief of Patrol Services John Chell, but there was a separate group that assembled and yelled obscenities at the officers. He also said that “the students that were arrested were peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner.”
Among those in custody was the daughter of Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar.
Reports of anti-Semitism at Columbia University “horrified and disgusted” New York Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday, adding that police “will not hesitate to arrest anyone who is found to be breaking the law.”
But, according to him, “Columbia University is a private institution on private property, which means the NYPD cannot have a presence on campus unless specifically requested by senior university officials.”
The tense exchanges occurred the same week when Shafik, the president of the institution, testified before Congress and said that “anti-Semitism has no place on our campus.”
Concerns about anti-Semitism at college have been brought up by Congressional Republicans; Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned soon after being asked to appear.
