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'Resistance Is Justified': Columbia Students Celebrate Oct. 7 as Pro-Hamas Demonstration Turns Violent in NYC

Student agitators at Columbia surround their pro-Israel counterparts.
Jessica Costescu
October 7, 2024

NEW YORK CITY—Hundreds of Columbia University students celebrated the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack by surrounding pro-Israel students and shouting "resistance is justified." They later joined in with a larger protest, organized by an anti-Semitic group, where agitators bloodied an Israel supporter, smashed a car window, and sported Hamas headbands.

The day started with a group of pro-Israel supporters gathered outside Columbia’s gates in remembrance of the terrorist attack. They chanted "Bring them home," sang "The Star-Spangled Banner," and held posters showing photos of hostages captured by Hamas.

But anti-Israel students soon overwhelmed the several dozen supporters of the Jewish state, marching and chanting "one solution" while holding Palestinian flags and dancing to "I believe that we will win" chants.

https://twitter.com/JessicaCostescu/status/1843333913441435772

The agitators made their way to the New York Stock Exchange and joined up with protesters affiliated with Within Our Lifetime, a notoriously anti-Semitic group. Its founder, Nerdeen Kiswani, has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and repeatedly praised Hamas. She has also addressed Columbia students before, both as one of the featured speakers at the pro-terror "Palestinian Resistance 101" event held on campus in March and as an unauthorized guest of the illegal encampment that plagued the school shortly thereafter.

Demonstrators kicked off the larger protest by unfurling a massive Palestinian flag. Keffiyehs were prominent in the crowd. Flags for Hezbollah, Iran, and Samidoun—an Israeli-designated terrorist organization—were also spotted.

Several protesters surrounded and attacked Democratic Majority for Israel co-chair Todd Richman, bloodying his nose. One struck him with a tambourine and another ripped away his Israeli flag. Afterward, they burned a cardboard effigy of a pig.

https://twitter.com/JessicaCostescu/status/1843383576081158161

Agitators heckled another man, grabbed at his backpack, and followed him until he sought refuge in a restaurant. Police escorted a Jewish man wearing a kippah to safety and arrested several protesters near Times Square. Protesters also smashed the window of one car and spit on another.

One agitator displayed a poster showing a Hamas headband. "Glory to my Palestinian Brothers," it read. "Victory is surely yours." Another wore a shirt depicting a Hamas fighter. They also ripped down posters of kidnapped Israelis.

Anti-Israel protests marking Oct. 7 have been ongoing since the weekend. On Saturday, for example, a local journalist set himself on fire in front of the White House to protest Israel’s war in Gaza.

Two days later, several dozen protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. They chanted "from the river to the sea" and called to "globalize the intifada."

Update, 8:52 p.m.: This story has been updated to identify the bloodied pro-Israel demonstrator.

Published under: Anti-Semitism , Columbia University , Hamas , Israel , New York City

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