The Orthodox rabbi at Columbia University and Barnard College issued a statement advising Jewish students to leave campus and return home because of ongoing demonstrations by anti-Israel activists that threaten their safety.
Rabbi Elie Buechler, director of OU-LJIC at Columbia/Barnard, urged students via WhatsApp to leave campus “as soon as possible” prior to the onset of Passover. He emphasized the urgency of the situation, noting that “what we are witnessing in and around campus is terrible and tragic.”
“The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy,” Buechler wrote. “It deeply pains me to say that I would strongly recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved.”
“It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus,” he added. “No one should have to endure this level of hatred, let alone at school.”
House GOP Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., on Sunday demanded Columbia University President Dr. Nemat “Minouche” Shafik to “immediately resign” given how Columbia’s leadership “has clearly lost control of its campus” within the last 24 hours, “putting Jewish students’ safety at risk.”
Stefanik asserted that Columbia leadership’s hours of preparation for their testimony before the House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing last week “clearly was an attempt to cover up for their abject failure to enforce their own campus rules and protect Jewish students on campus.”
Despite Shafik allowing the New York Police Department onto campus the day after her testimony before Congress, where lawmakers grilled her about the lack of consequences for antisemitism at the Ivy League school, the more than 100 people arrested and suspended from the university on Thursday have since been released from custody.
The anti-Israel encampment on the locked campus has remained as police officers look on from across the gates.
Footage circulating online suggests that the activities at the encampment exceed mere support for the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement or other calls for Palestinian rights. The encampment has been described as a “training ground” for “fighters” who have praised the October 7 attack on Israel.
One anti-Israel agitator was seen holding a sign reading, “Al-Qasam’s next targets,” pointing toward a group of Jewish students who were singing while waving the Israeli flag. The Al-Qassam Brigade is the military wing of Hamas.
Another video showed demonstrators shout at Jewish students leaving campus, “Go back to Europe,” and, “All you do is colonize.”
Shai Davidai, a Jewish professor at Columbia, gained widespread attention in October for his criticism of the university’s failure to address antisemitism, and is now calling far the National Guard to step in.
“[Columbia University President Dr. Nemat “Minouche” Shafik] needs to open the gates of the university. And NYPD needs to come in and disperse the crowd and arrest everyone who refuses. And keep them in jail. And if the NYPD cannot do this, then we need the National Guard,” Davidai told Fox News Digital. “With all the fraught history the National Guard has had on U.S. campuses. If Columbia can’t keep the Jewish students safe. And if the police continue to keep the Jewish students safe, then the National Guard must. Because this is a civil rights issue. This is not about the war in Israel. This is a Jewish civil rights issue.”