Today, classes moved online
for students at Columbia.
The university president saying
they'll give the Ivy League school
a chance to consider next steps.
pro-Palestine protests
have rocked the campus last week.
More than 100 people were arrested
after the school asked police
to remove student protesters.
These protests have become vulgar
and threatening at times.
The following video,
which was taken on Saturday
night, was provided to CNN
by the Columbia's Chabad organization.
As we head out
this new Israel
crowd, has
a rabbi associated
with the school urged Jewish students
to, quote,
return home as soon as possible
and remain home for the time being.
CNN talked to some Jewish students
on Columbia's campus
particularly the last few days.
I've
felt uncomfortable
around this university.
I've felt like
this is not a welcoming environment
as far as like walking around on campus.
I will say I still feel safe.
I don't want that to be like
any kind of excuse for these people.
They've made the campus hostile feeling.
So you're supposed to graduate
in a month. Is it here?
So you don't you don't think you'll go?
I don't think it's safe.
Is back.
Frank, for a couple of things.
You recently
wrote the cover story in The Atlantic
saying that
the Golden Age
of American Jews is ending.
You were also a Columbia
University graduate
and were recently on campus
speaking to a Jewish organization there.
Yeah,
Can you help us understand
how we got to this point?
What is it about the campus
that has brought these protests?
Why these protests are honestly different
and worse
than not all other protests
going on in the country,
but certainly they really stick out.
A couple of things need to be said
about the Columbia campus.
First, it's
in the middle of New York City.
In New York
City is a place
that has always had a very active left.
And so you've had at various moments
this combination of forces
outside the campus merging with
forces inside the campus.
Secondly, Columbia
has this incredible legacy of protest.
And so I think that when students
meet a moment like
this, it
almost feels like
it's as if their duty
as Columbia students
to go join the protests.
I know
I did when I was a Columbia student.
And then third of all,
it has this history of
Middle East studies department
that's always been
especially radical
on the Palestinian question.
And so you have students
who've been taught by professors
to have this sort of impassioned activism
that's been on display.
And then no university
has figured out
how to deal with these protests,
whether the protest
has been very disruptive
to life on campus or for good reasons
for the university president to come in
and to try to deal with the chaos
at the university, continue to function
so that there's not a heckler's veto
that's happening where the loudest,
most radical voices
have control over the discourse.
But what we've seen
is that by going in
and cracking
down, it's just further inflamed
the situation.
It's becoming about
more than just a Palestine.
And when what's happened is
protesters say that
they're just criticizing Israel
and I believe that
in a lot of their minds
that's their intent.
But there's a whole vocabulary
that they have
for talking about
what's happening
on campus
that veers almost directly
into anti-Semitism, where they
they accuse
Jewish donors,
they accuse a Jewish
Jewish forces in the world
for ordering the crackdown.
It's not the university
president acting on her own.
There's all those are straight up
anti-Semitic tropes
right there that you outline.
Yeah.
And and it's an even go further.
It's not almost antisemitism.
It is antisemitism.
And this is something that is on display
right now.
But the sort of roots of this kind
of devolving from A
to B go back millennia.
And this is something
the roots of anti-Semitism that pop up
in societies
that frankly tend to be a canary
in the coal
mine for a society and democracy
in this case,
that is in a lot of trouble.
It is.
I like to look at this and replace Jews
with any other minority group here
and what would the entire country
be doing?
They would be outraged, rightly so.
It is not just Palestinian rights.
I got the the the letter
that you reported on that
the rabbi at Columbia sent
saying that Jewish students,
you're not safe here
from a parent of a Columbia
University student.
I got out yesterday morning
and this person's daughter
has heard things like you're a Nazi,
things like you know,
go, go kill yourself
and other and even worse things.
That's not protest, that's harassment.
And it is on the brink of violence.
And the fact that these Jewish students
feel so unsafe and it is
so systemic when it comes from.
Yeah, ultimately going back from classes
that don't necessarily get policed
that is dangerous
and not just classes
that don't get policed.
It's PTAs and people
who are teaching
about the Middle East in particular
use their position to have a soapbox.
But I think
especially for Orthodox students and
they tend
for various reasons,
to get written out of people's concerns.
But if you wear a kippah,
if you have
you dress in an orthodox sort of way,
all of this hatred ends up
just being directed onto you on a campus
like Columbia.
They don't know
your point of view
about the conflict in Israel.
They're just assumptions
that get made
and they're the ones who suffer suffered
the comments
like most of the comments
that Dan is talking about,
that they really it's
it's it's primal
the way
in which they just get assailed
with this anti-Semitism.
Would you feel safe,
either of you with a child
or a Jewish child
attending a university like
this right now?
You know,
I think,
yeah, I
would have a lot of anxiety about it.
But it also makes me sad to hear
a rabbi
say that students should not feel safe
going on to campus.
Even with these protests happening.
I feel as if backing down
in that sort of way
almost gives the protestor
is exactly what they want.
And I think it's really
the onus should be on the university
to create safe conditions for students.
Yeah. What do you think
I don't know.
I mean, I'm I'm I'm mixed.
I think that ultimately it's
you can't let let them win.
And when I say them, I'm
talking about like the true
hateful comments.
Everybody has a right to disagree
with the policies
of a Democratic government.
And that is what is happening in Israel.
People in Israel disagree
with the policies
of their elected government.
That does not give people the right to be
full on
vile and full of hate.
And the again,
the sort of anti-Zionism anti
Netanyahu government
that has left the building
a long time ago
when it comes to
what you're actually seeing
and not all of the cases,
but many of these cases, it is raw
hatred towards Jews Yeah.
Well, here's how
Democratic Senator John Fetterman put it.
He was talking about a White House
statement.
Let's start with the White House.
They said, quote,
While every American has the right
to peaceful protests,
calls for violence
and physical
intimidation, targeting
Jewish students
and the Jewish community
are blatantly anti
Semitic, unconscionable and dangerous.
And then Senator
John Fetterman of Pennsylvania
actually lost a couple of staffers
from his office, reportedly
because they disagree with him
about these these this particular issue.
He wrote this,
I fully agree with the White House.
These, quote, protests and,
quote, are anti-Semitic, unconscionable
and dangerous.
Add some tiki torches
and it's Charlottesville
for these Jewish students
to Columbia president,
do your job or resign
so Columbia can find someone
who will you say it is Charlottesville.
If you add tiki torches, I mean,
it's not that far off.
He's not wrong.
Again, this is not
This has gone way beyond being pro
or anti
Israeli government, pro or anti
the way that they're prosecuting the war.
This is we have to learn from history.
And history shows us
that
when when there is a motivating issue
that can allow antisemitism to snowball
it will happen and it is happening.
We're watching it real time.