Columbia University has announced that they have banned the individuals
behind a so-called chemical attack on pro-Palestinian protesters
during a rally on campus last Friday.
Now, the protesters were from Columbia, students for Justice in Palestine
and the Columbia chapter of Jewish Jewish Voices for Peace Now.
In an email to students and staff, Interim University Provost Dennis Mitchell
wrote that since the incident in which protesters reported being sprayed
with a foul smelling substance that required students to seek medical
treatment, Columbia has been working with the New York City Police Department
in investigating what appeared to have been serious crimes, possibly hate crimes.
So they were protesting.
Dozens of protesters got together on the campus in Columbia University,
and from every report that I've read, they're peaceful.
They're not causing any problems.
At that point, two individuals proceed to spray them with something,
and it's apparently much stronger than regular pepper spray.
So I'll give you the details on what they claim to have experienced
in just a moment.
But there have allegedly been some consequences for the suspects.
The alleged perpetrators identified to the university were immediately banned
from campus while the law enforcement investigation proceeds.
And that's according to the university provost.
I want to note that we I have not been able to confirm
the identities of the two individuals that are kind of floating online,
and I'm not about to share someone's identity without being able to confirm it.
Especially because you risk the chance of sharing a photo or identity of someone
who's actually innocent.
So please be careful of what you see online.
Wait for confirmation.
The protesters claim that two of the individuals were former IDF soldiers,
who are now in the United States, and they apparently said
some pretty horrible things to them right before they launched this attack.
The university did not clarify whether those banned were students
or how many individuals were involved.
And the college's student newspaper, Columbia Spectator,
first reported on the incident, in which 18 students present at the rally
described being engulfed by a foul smell.
During the protest, ten students reported experiencing physical symptoms
such as headaches, nausea and burning eyes, and several reported damage
to their property, according to groups involved in the protest.
At least eight students sought treatment for their symptoms at a hospital.
Now, while we do not have confirmation on exactly what the substance used in
the attack was, three students identified the substance as skunk, a chemical
developed by the Israeli firm Odor Tech and and employed by the Israeli military
against demonstrators in the West Bank.
The company Mistral Securities supplies, skunk in the United States
and describes the non-lethal, vile smelling liquid as causing crowds
to cease their activities while allowing law enforcement to gain control
with minimum injuries and casualties.
Now apparently the perpetrators alleged perpetrators
were yelling things at the protesters.
Let's go to the last graphic here.
They were referring to students as Jew killers and terrorists because they
were calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Yeah.
So, I'm sure congressional hearings are being planned right now
because this is not theoretical.
This is not a chant. They actually were attacked.
Oh, that's there on the Palestinian side. Oh, there.
Sorry.
Got confused. No congressional hearings.
No one cares. Okay.
Now, at the national level, at the political level, the good news is
cops are investigating in New York.
They care at Columbia administration doing a good job of following this up
to make sure the students are protected.
That's good.
There's also a federal investigation, which was surprising.
Yeah. Okay.
Great.
So the politicians, of course, this does not help their propaganda at all,
so that they're not going to care at all.
So now, in terms of the perpetrators, once our identities are confirmed, if it turns
out they're not citizens here, obviously these criminals should be deported.
That's how it works.
You commit a crime in America when you're not a citizen, you get deported.
So they should be sent back to Israel.
I mean, if they want to do terrorism, if they're actually are former IDF
soldiers, that's not surprising.
But this is in Gaza.
You don't just get to do terrorism here and get away with it.
So, That you should change your attitude and your mindset when you're in America,
as opposed to where you get to oppress people basically for a living
if you're in the IDF.
So this is an actual attack and it's terrible, but it's it's crystal clear.
I don't know if anybody's making excuses for it.
Probably not publicly, but I bet you a lot of people internally are like, well,
I mean, how if they don't like Israel, they must deserve it, right?
Of course, the biggest crime in the world is criticizing
the right wing government of Israel.
You can criticize the right wing governments
all over the country world, by the way.
Hungary, America, Turkey, you name it, you got a right wing government.
We criticize, but Israel, no special rules.
I mean, what could be more American than criticizing your government, right?
I mean, we do it all the time.
And in fact, we're criticized on the international stage
for a variety of reasons.
And I don't see that as anti-American.
I see that as, okay, you know, the government carried out
some military operations and some wars that were terrible and, you know,
victimized all sorts of innocent people.
But, you know, to to take that as a, as a dig on my identity
as an American is ridiculous.
But anyway, putting that aside real quick, I want to note that initially
the university's response was basically to scold the demonstrators because
the two groups who took part in this rally have been banned from Columbia University,
alleging that their demonstrations make Jewish students feel unsafe
and that they're intimidating.
But apparently, after it had become abundantly clear that there were, like
literally protesters getting treatment in the hospital for for the attack,
then they launched an investigation.
Columbia University did.
And authorities, both on a local level, the New York Police Department
and on a federal level, the FBI got involved in the investigation as well.
Yeah. By the way, this is very relevant.
The two student groups are Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine
and the Columbia chapter of Jewish Voices for peace.
So can't have that.
So they were removed from campus because they're potentially anti-Semitic
and they're Jewish.
So like the words have no meaning anymore, right?
So they don't really mean anti-Semitic.
They mean how dare these good kids who are care about all human lives,
wonderful Jewish Americans that are actually for peace?
How dare you oppose the right wing government of Israel?
We'll just call you anti-Semitic. We did it to Bernie Sanders.
We do it to everyone who opposes the right wing government of Israel.
So we'll remove you from we got to protect the Jews
by removing the Jews from campus.
But but let me also just add something.
If there are examples of individuals within these groups or during a rally
engaging in any kind of behavior that that threatens Jewish students or makes them
feel unsafe, like genuinely unsafe, simply voicing your opinion and rallying
in favor of a cease fire is not enough to argue that it's making you feel unsafe.
But if there was a targeted attack against Jewish students,
that person should be banned from campus.
Of course 1,000%, 1,000%.
Look to me the important thing, there's all sorts of campus groups
and there's all sorts of speakers who show up on college campuses who I disagree
with, but that's called America, right?
You don't ban people from your campus simply because you disagree
with the perspective that they're sharing with other students who might
also agree with that perspective.
But once you start threatening other people,
that's when things start to change.
That's when there should be consequences.
But it's amazing to me how there's just like this vague statement about like,
oh, well, these student groups make, are intimidating.
And so we're going to ban them. It's just I think it's wrong.
I think it's totally wrong to do something like that.
Look, we're Americans.
The religious background and ethnic background should have no bearing.
None. Zero.
Especially for progressives.
So. And by the way, as luck would have it, the strongest voices in favor of peace,
are Jewish voices in this country Bernie Sanders, Jamie Raskin, etc..
So this is nothing to do with Jews versus Muslims.
And if you and if you're on the Palestinian side
and you make it about religion.
You're totally wrong.
You're wrong morally, you're wrong factually, and you're wrong strategically.
You're wrong in every way, right? But it's also true the other way around.
So when these guys come and, attack the, the people that are protesting for peace
and then call them a terrorist because they want peace,
yes, there should be severe consequences for the for those actions.
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