The Real Victims of the Pro-Hamas Columbia Demonstrations
Rich kids demonizing the working class
With the departure of Shafik after her miserable 1-year tenure and the installation of interim President Armstrong, Columbia University began a fresh new chapter. I was optimistic. Surely, things did not have to continue as they were. All the new president needed to do was implement a few reforms, maybe slightly revise some language in the code of conduct, communicate with students, faculty, and staff the consequences for infringing on said code of conduct, and most importantly, enforce the consequences.
Clearly, my optimism was premature. Dr. Armstrong appears not to have done jack shit to address the cesspool of antisemitism that continues to infect Columbia as I type these words. As of this week, Columbia banned Professor Shai Davidai from campus, just as they welcomed back Khymani “Zionists don’t deserve to live” James. Part of the reason for the action Columbia took against Davidai had to do with his personal social media coverage of the the pro-Hamas rallies organized by students and faculty, one of which occurring on the first anniversary of the October 7th massacres.
But who are the real victims in these demonstrations? I know the students believe themselves to be “victims” because some were arrested last year during the 2 police raids of the university after students refused to disband their anti-Israel encampment and trespassed in Hamilton Hall. They were then released from Central Booking on the same day and subsequently had their charges dropped (one of them was Ilhan Omar’s daughter). I fail to see the trauma that they endured relative to what they caused. These students simply wish to maintain victimhood as an entire identity. The problem is that the only people who view them through that lens are themselves.
I want to focus on two specific groups of what I consider to be genuine victims of Columbia’s anti-Israel demonstrations since they began more than a year ago:
Maintenance workers
A lot has been said about the demographics of the people participating in the anti-Israel demonstrations, namely that they appear to be young adults without jobs. At no point did that appear more profound than in this image from the NYTimes:
This is a photo of one of the maintenance workers whose only crime was being at his assigned job in Hamilton Hall when the student terrorists broke in. He’s defending himself against a trust fund kid. Can Columbia give Mr. Torres a raise, please?
Keep in mind: the leaders of these demonstrations belong to the same demographic that believes it’s an act of violence to call them by the wrong pronoun.
After the police raid of Hamilton Hall shortly after the photo above was taken, a bunch of deranged Columbia faculty got together to condemn the president’s decision to call in the cops. Apparently they believe that Columbia students are somehow entitled to special privileges when they get arrested:
In case you’re not convinced already that many of Columbia’s faculty are indeed delusional, here is an excerpt from a long-winded statement from faculty in support what the protesters did, after the Hamilton Hall raid:
“We question the claim made in the Discipline Notice that by their actions these protesters created an ‘intimidating and threatening environment’ for other students. Although some students may have ‘felt unsafe’ as a result of the Hamilton Hall occupation, it is important to note that the actions of the students did not cause any physical harm.”
No physical harm? The image above of the maintenance worker whose only crime was showing up for his evening shift to do his job suggests otherwise.
The faculty who signed this letter just show that they have zero regard for their own colleagues working in positions that they view as beneath them. They’re happy to pseudo-advocate for people they know nothing about living thousands of miles away, but won’t even consider for one moment how their actions compromised the safety of a fellow employee working on the same campus. In a perfect world, they would all be fired.
Police officers
I am not a ‘Blue Lives Matter’ person in the least, but I believe that no one should have to put up with genuine abuse while on the job. But that is precisely what the NYPD officers assigned to deal with these protests have received. A few examples:
Students chanting to the NYPD officers: “IDF they’re all the same/NYPD, KKK!” Many of the officers they are yelling at appear to be people of color. Can you imagine being a Black or brown officer and having these spoiled idiots yell at you that you’re just like the KKK?
This one is probably the most ironic: when the pro-Hamas mob walked out of class (at their $80k/year school) and onto the subway on the Oct 7th anniversary, they chanted to the officers in the subway car: “Get the f*** off the train/get a job and grow a brain.” This is what they yell at 2pm on Monday as they take public transportation to an outdoor event for local domestic terrorists. They literally should have been chanting that rhyme to themselves. Though I suppose it was symbolic that they ran into tunnels during their protest—Hamas solidarity!
After watching numerous NYPD interventions at these protests (both on- and off-campus), I can say with authority that this police force is nothing like the one I remember when I lived there. I recall the Occupy Wall Street protests, where people I know were pepper sprayed for doing far less than what these student-terrorists have done and continue to do. The cops literally just stand there and calmly tolerate this mob yelling abusive insults at them, and actually negotiate with them (“can you please stop igniting those flame lighters at in the middle of the street? It’s a fire hazard. Please?”). It appears that urban policing has become an extension of modern parenting, yet the dumb rich kids encountering this police force believe they’re being victimized. Actually, allow me to rephrase: they wish the NYPD were actually victimizing them.
I would like to be clear that the policing reforms that the NYPD has implemented (including attempting to de-escalate with verbal warnings) are mostly positive, and many were much-needed. It’s great that they’re making concerted efforts not to use excessive force. I actually found myself wondering why more force wasn’t used in certain circumstances when the mob was clearly ignoring the officers’ directives. I never imagined such a thought would cross my mind about the NYPD, ever.
It is my belief that the Jewish community here in the U.S. is depending far too much on law enforcement to deal with violent antisemites. The vast majority of the officers aren’t Jewish, yet they’re the ones on the front lines defending our right to exist. So that leads me to a dark question:
That’s a perfect description of the hypocrisy and privilege of the wealthy so-called liberals infesting our institutions and “educating” the next generations of privileged, self-absorbed individuals who are completely disconnected from reality and deeply paternalistic (when not blatantly racist) to those they claim to care about because they are so righteous, you know. A disgrace in general, sponsored by decades of arab money when it comes to academia in particular.
To answer your question, sadly, I doubt too many people would be concerned about a few more dead Jews. And as I've said, many times, the same people that are emphatic about us examining our own racism, cultural biases and appropriate use of pronouns, refuse to deal with their own anti-Semitism. It just shows how deep anti-Semitism unfortunately runs.