Supporters of Palestine continued to occupy the campus of Columbia University for the ninth day, while over five hundred Israeli supporters gathered outside the campus, urging the release of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas. The rally ended peacefully with no conflicts between Israeli and Palestinian supporters. However, after the rally, a Harvard student protesting at Columbia engaged in a heated debate with rally attendees, attracting a crowd, and our reporter witnessed a Palestinian supporter tearing down flyers advocating for the rescue of Israeli hostages from a utility pole.
Last year, on October 7, during the Jewish holiday season, Hamas, a Sunni Islamist organization in Palestine designated as a terrorist group by the United States, launched an attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, resulting in over 1,200 Israelis and foreigners killed, with Hamas and other groups kidnapping 253 hostages. This attack not only ignited the conflict with Israel but also claimed the lives of young people attending an outdoor music party.
Among the innocent Israeli youth sacrificed was Shaked Yacoby’s 23-year-old cousin. Yacoby, when interviewed by Epoch Times, said, “I only found out that my cousin was brutally killed on October 7 last year when I was having dinner with my family last Friday. It took us some time to confirm whether she was still alive.”
“She simply went to a party with friends, experiencing nature and enjoying life… and then she was gone,” Yacoby said. He and his fiancee also encountered anti-Jewish flyers on the subway, with some individuals even threatening his fiancee, but Yacoby managed to intervene in time.
Yacoby stated, “We are here to call for the return of the Israeli hostages and oppose the rhetoric of those occupying the Columbia University campus, who support terrorism and Hamas. However, this group enters Israel to kidnap civilians, kill infants, and sexually assault women. They, the pro-Palestine supporters, shamelessly voice support for such terrorism, while Columbia University allows these individuals to occupy the campus and threaten to kill Jews.”
Dana Cwaigrach, a Jewish student at Columbia University’s School of Public Administration, is one of the organizers of the support rally. Cwaigrach pointed out in an interview that the kidnapped hostages’ absence in recent tensions and reports about Columbia University made her uncomfortable, having been studying in New York for nearly a year.
“On the week of October 7, I put up posters of the kidnapped hostages by Hamas here (at Columbia). But within 7-8 hours, these posters were all torn down,” Cwaigrach realized something was amiss at that moment. “After their (hostages) faces were revealed, we need to remember these people’s names, remember they are still in the hands of terrorist organizations. But the posters were quickly taken down, which made me understand that neither the students nor the school administration care about these (hostages).”
“For me, the chants they (hostages) make are violent and aimed at destroying Israel, killing Israelis, not for peace or ceasefire,” said Cwaigrach. She emphasized that if the pro-Palestine protesters at Columbia truly want to stop the war, they should advocate for the kidnapped Israeli hostages, or else they are not genuine protesters.
The rally in support of the Hamas-kidnapped hostages took place outside Columbia University’s gate at 116th Street and Broadway, starting at 9:30 am on the 26th and ending around 11:30 am. A lady attending the rally was seen picking up trash alone with a paper bag. During the rally, Columbia remained closed to the public, with metal barriers set up on-site, and several police officers were directing the flow of rally participants on the sidewalk outside the campus.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been ongoing for nearly seven months, with the main battleground being the Gaza Strip.
In 2007, Hamas defeated Fatah, the previous long-standing representative of Palestinian national rights, in democratic elections, leading to their control over the Gaza Strip. Hamas, an extremist religious and militant organization aiming to eradicate Israel, is considered a terrorist group by both the United States and the European Union.
Following Hamas’ attack on Israeli-held territory on October 7, Israel launched a brutal military retaliation on the Gaza Strip. According to Al Jazeera’s report as of April 26, military operations resulted in over 34,000 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip, including more than 14,500 children and 8,400 women, while the death toll in Israel was 1,139.
As the Gaza Strip is under Hamas control, the voices of discontent from the Palestinian people in Gaza are intertwined with the support for violent Hamas resistance against Israel.
Harvard student Ahmad Kanafani, who visited Columbia University for protesting, expressed his views while wearing a Palestinian nationalist “kufiya” scarf. Kanafani stated that the pro-Palestinian protests on the Columbia campus were peaceful and that both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protests were exercising the freedom of speech granted by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, saying, “Because America is a free society.”
Regarding Columbia University President Minouche Shafik allowing the NYPD to enter the campus to arrest people, Kanafani criticized the decision as “stupid,” arguing that there are protesters supporting Palestine at all universities in America, and letting the police in to arrest peaceful protesting students interferes with their rights.
Kanafani said, “In the past seven months, 34,000 Palestinians have died, with five thousand children dying within the first two months, which is unprecedented. That’s why we have to speak out and protest, to tell the Israeli government that we have had enough.”
When asked about his views on Hamas, Kanafani stated that Hamas began to flourish in 1987 and countered that Israel had already killed countless Palestinians with missile strikes before that.
After the interview, Kanafani engaged in a heated debate with several individuals supporting the kidnapped hostages by Hamas, drawing a crowd and media attention.
Upon arriving at the intersection of 116th Street and Broadway, our reporter captured a man wearing a kufiya scarf tearing down flyers with images of Hamas-kidnapped hostages from a utility pole. When the man noticed the media camera, he began recording as well, questioning whether our reporter was pro-Palestine or pro-Israel. Subsequently, the man engaged in arguments with surrounding pro-Israel individuals.
This Sunday morning at 11 am, supporters of Israel will continue to gather in Central Park, Manhattan, to rally in support of the Hamas-kidnapped hostages.