Masked students disrupt Columbia classes and distribute anti-Semitic leaflets

Another round of anti-Israel protests erupted at Columbia University on Tuesday, with masked people disrupting classes and handing out fliers displaying a boot stamp with a Star of David, witnesses told The Post.

The video shows the masked protesters storming into a history of modern Israel class on campus and handing out leaflets depicting a burning Israeli flag and the words “Burn down Zionism.”

The incident came as Colombia was named a “national model” for anti-Israel protests – a template that has been copied by others for coordinated protests across the country, according to a monitoring group.

In its report on campus protests last year, the Canary Mission identified more than 300 Columbia faculty members, students and others who were “influential” after the terror group’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that left 1,200 Israelis dead to the promotion of Hamas ideology in Columbia.” and saw 250 hostages taken.

However, according to the 53-page study, “From Tehran to Columbia: Inside America’s Student Intifada,” most of the people who took part in the protests were “outside agitators” and only 68 were Columbia students.

Student Lishi Baker, 22, a Middle Eastern history major whose class was suspended Tuesday, told The Post the posters “looked like images we might see in 1930s Germany.”

“This movement continues to reveal itself as a pro-terror movement… It contradicts liberal values ​​and creates an intolerably hostile environment for Jewish students.”

After Tuesday’s disruption, visiting professor Avi Shilon told the Post he was primarily concerned about the safety of his class.

“They just want to scare my students… I was very disappointed in the students who came to the course because when you go to Columbia, an Ivy League university, you should first and foremost respect the need to learn how you study.” topic before you protest.

“They behave very aggressively… Things like this can happen on the street, but not within the university, not within the classroom.”

Current university president Katrina Armstrong later issued a statement saying, “We strongly condemn this disruption, as well as the leaflets containing violent images, which are unacceptable on our campus.”

“Disrupting academic activities is a violation of the university’s code of conduct…We will quickly investigate and address this act.”

“Any act of anti-Semitism or any other form of discrimination, harassment or intimidation against members of our community will not be tolerated.”

Elsewhere in Colombia on Tuesday – despite a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war – demonstrators beat drums, chanted and spread clearly anti-Semitic propaganda.

The groups Columbia University Apartheid Divest and Within Our Lifetime vowed to continue their protests in 2025, writing in a social media post: “We will not stop” and urging people to attend their rally.

“I don’t think anyone expected masked, intimidating protesters to storm in with a drum,” Baker added.

“It goes against everything higher education stands for. Not only are these people openly opposed to discussion, they are also openly opposed to anyone at the university learning about Israel’s history. They are against Israeli professors teaching at Columbia University.”

Last spring, Columbia students, with the help of faculty and outside agitators unaffiliated with the university, organized the “Gaza Solidarity Camp” on the lawn of the Ivy League school in Upper Manhattan.

The camp was organized by the Columbia chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which called for “divestment and an end to Colombia’s complicity in genocide.”

Although the NYPD kicked out many of the protest participants after April 17, the first day, many returned to protest and remained there for two weeks.

“The camp has solidified Columbia as the most notorious pro-terror center
Columbia activists subsequently helped advance the movement across the country,” the Canary Mission report said.

Columbia students Aidan Parisi and Andrew Timberg, a student in the Department of Religion, were also heavily involved in the protests. Timberg was the spokesman for Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition of 80 anti-Israel groups, the study said.

The group called on Columbia to reinstate Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) a month after the October 7 pogrom.

Parisi, who occupied the school’s Hamilton Hall building along with other protesters, was later suspended from school, according to reports.

The Canary report claims SJP’s suspension was little more than “a public relations move” because the group had returned under the CUAD umbrella.

“SJP departments on college campuses across the U.S. serve as the student army of Iran’s terror proxy Hamas,” the report says, adding that Colombia hosted the first national SJP conference where it adopted “Points of Unity.” , which included the destruction of Israel.

A Columbia spokesman said the school “strongly condemns anti-Semitism.”

“We firmly believe that calls for violence or harm have no place at our university,” the spokesman said.

“Since taking office in August, Interim President (Katrina) Armstrong and her leadership team have taken decisive actions to strengthen Columbia’s academic mission, keep our community safe, and strengthen and clarify our disciplinary practices.”