A class taught by an Israeli historian at Columbia University was interrupted by four Keffiyah-clad anti-Israel protesters, who delivered an anti-Semitic tirade while handing out hateful fliers.
By Rachel Avraham
On the first day of the spring semester at Columbia University, the Jerusalem Post reported that a class on the “History of Modern Israel” taught by Dr. Avi Shilon, a Jewish Israeli historian, was interrupted by four Keffiyah-clad anti-Israel protesters, who delivered an anti-Semitic tirade while handing out hateful fliers.
One flyer, calling to “crush Zionism,” depicted a boot stepping on a broken Star of David, according to an X/Twitter account calling itself Columbia Jewish and Israeli Students. Another poster urged to “burn Zionism to the ground,” accompanied by a drawing of a masked man carrying a burning Israeli flag, the Jerusalem Post noted. “The enemy will not survive tomorrow,” said one threatening flier over an image of Hamas terrorists brandishing rifles on top of a vehicle, Fox News reported.
Fox News reported that Dr. Shilon’s class is the only class on Israel at Columbia University that is taught by an Israeli historian. However, the protesters could not even tolerate the presence of one Israeli historian on their campus. “We’re giving you the inside scoop on Columbia University’s normalization of genocide,” said one masked protester.
Elisha Baker, a student in the class, told the Times of Israel: “That is the culture at Columbia University. It is nearly impossible to have a conversation about Zionism unless it is about criticizing Zionism. It’s also ironic because these protesters have been talking about academic freedom for the entire year, but clearly, they don’t care about academic freedom at all because there’s no such thing as the freedom to intimidate and disrupt inside of a classroom.”
Baker told Fox News Dr. Shilon’s class is the only one taught by a professor who is not anti-Semitic. “Nothing is worse at Columbia than the Middle East studies department, it is an absolute trainwreck,” President of Columbia Students Supporting Israel Eden Yadegar told Fox News. Yadegar is a plaintiff in a Title VI discrimination suit against the university. Yadegar said Shilon’s class is important because “ideological diversity” is sorely lacking on campus and Columbia has professors teaching courses on Israel who praised Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist rampage.
“No less awesome were the scenes… of Palestinian fighters from Gaza breaking through Israel’s prison fence or gliding over it by air,” wrote Columbia Professor Joseph Massad just one day after the heinous October 7 terrorist attacks which saw 1,200 Israelis killed, 250 kidnapped and thousands more wounded. According to Fox News, Massad teaches a course on the development of Zionism at Columbia University.
In its report looking at protests on campus last year, the Canary Mission identified more than 300 Columbia faculty, students and others who were “influential in promoting Hamas ideology at Columbia” after the terror group’s October 7 terror attacks on Israel, the New York Post reported. The Canary Mission wrote a 53-page study titled “From Tehran to Columbia: Inside America’s Student Intifada.”
In the study, the Canary Mission noted: “On October 9, 2023, two days after the Hamas terror attack, Columbia SJP wrote an open letter supporting the massacre, rape and kidnapping of Jews and Israelis. They attributed their stance to the education they received at Columbia.” While SJP and JVP were forced to disband due to their violent activities on campus, they were permitted to rebrand as CUAD, otherwise known as Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which to date terrorizes the Jewish student population at Columbia University.
Since October 7, posters showing solidarity with the hostages have been defaced on campus, while anti-Israel protesters have chanted “We are Hamas” and “Al Qassem, you make us proud. Kill another soldier now.” According to the report, “Jewish students were severely harassed. Some were told to “go back to Poland”. Others were yelled at: “Yahoodim [Jews], yahoodi [Jew], f**k you!” as they walked from campus to their dorm rooms.”
Dr. Shilon told the Times of Israel that he was sharing the Israeli and Palestinian narratives on Israel’s 1948 war at the time of the disruption: “I was trying to be unbiased as I’m used to being and then they knock on the door and for me, as an Israeli, they looked like terrorists. They didn’t look like protesters so I was surprised. I didn’t know how to react because if you would be aggressive they can claim that you pushed them or something, and if you’re going to be calmer, they can continue, so I suggested to them to join the class and to learn about the conflict. They just shouted ‘genocide,’ ‘criminals,’ and didn’t reply.”
Dr. Shilon told Fox News that the protesters resembled Hamas members so strongly at first that he initially spoke to them in Arabic and that only on second glance did he realize they were protesters there to disrupt his class: “It was shocking to see students, at a prestigious Ivy League school, threatening other students. It felt like someone invaded my home. They don’t understand the conflict at all.” Dr. Shilon said he prides himself on being an objective scholar, who exposes his students to both narratives surrounding the formation of Israel in 1948.
Following the incident, Columbia University’s Interim President Katrina Armstrong released a statement saying “we strongly condemn this disruption, as well as the fliers that included violent imagery that is unacceptable on our campus and in our community.” Apparently, the university offered to provide Dr. Shion’s class with a security guard, an offer that the respected historian turned down. He told Fox News: “The university’s responsibility is to stop these incidents before they happen.”
