The College Fix

Protestors distribute pro-Hamas flyers encouraging violence 

Anti-Israel protestors barged into an Israeli history class at Columbia University on Tuesday to pass out pro-Hamas flyers that showed the Star of David being destroyed.

“Four student activists, donning keffiyehs, marched into the class, ‘History of Modern Israel,’ filming themselves as they recited a script, passed out propaganda, and harassed students, most of whom are Jewish, according to a student in the class,” The Washington Free Beacon reported.

Columbia student Elisha Baker posted a video of the incident to X.

It’s day 1 of Prof. @shilonavi History of Modern Israel @Columbia and masked protestors just barged in to intimidate and disrupt. So much for “academic freedom.”

Welcome to Columbia, 2025! pic.twitter.com/S6GbzKFqut

— Elisha (Lishi) Baker (@LishiBaker) January 21, 2025

“So much for ‘academic freedom.’ Welcome to Columbia, 2025!” the student wrote.

The video shows an Israeli professor, Avi Shilon, telling the protesters to leave. “This is a civil rights violation. We’re trying to learn,” he said.

Baker also posted photos of the flyers the protestors distributed, which read, “The enemy will not see tomorrow,” “Burn Zionism to the ground,” and “Crush Zionism.” One flyer showed an Israeli flag on fire.

“The enemy will not see tomorrow”
“Burn Zionism to the ground”
“Crush Zionism”

These were the flyers thrown at us by hostile protestors in @shilonavi History of Modern Israel class today @Columbia pic.twitter.com/vNwPY6PrmQ

— Elisha (Lishi) Baker (@LishiBaker) January 21, 2025

Shilon told the Free Beacon the incident “did not discourage [him].”

“[O]n the contrary, it just makes me feel that it is so important to teach and to study Israel from a real historian who this is his field of expertise,” he said.

University President Katrina Armstrong also responded to the incident, stating, “We strongly condemn this disruption, as well as the fliers that included violent imagery that is unacceptable on our campus and in our community.”

“Disrupting academic activities constitutes a violation of the Rules of University conduct and the nature of the disruption may constitute violations of other University policies,” Armstrong stated.

She also stated that the school will “investigate and address this act.”

“We want to be absolutely clear that any act of antisemitism, or other form of discrimination, harassment, or intimidation against members of our community is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” she stated.

Meanwhile, Columbia is offering a course on “Zionism” taught by a professor who described terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel as “awesome,” The College Fix previously reported.

“The course, being antisemitic incitement from beginning to end, directly creates an environment of hate and bigotry against Jewish students,” Yaakov Menken, director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, told The Fix last month.

MORE: Columbia goes remote as virulent anti-Israel protests continue to rock university

IMAGE: LishiBaker/Twitter

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