National Anti-Israel Conference At Columbia Univ. Gets An Earful From Protestors

Public Release on Columbia University  

Contact: Glenn Richter, (212) 663-5784

NATIONAL ANTI-ISRAEL CONFERENCE

AT COLUMBIA U. GETS AN EARFUL FROM PROTESTERS

Nearly 70 years ago, the larger-than-life statue of Columbia University, a graceful woman holding an open book at the main gate on Broadway, looked down on a rally by brave students.  They were protesting the pro-Nazi policies of the institution’s heavy-handed president, Nicholas Murray Butler.  Butler then had a leader of the protests expelled. 

On Sunday, October 16th, under the gaze of the same statue, several dozen supporters of Israel demonstrated against a different form of racist ideology, often termed Islamo-fascism.  Columbia University had permitted a three-day national conference on its campus of Students for Justice in Palestine, training for “Israel Apartheid Week” actions on campuses around the country.

Organizers of the counter-action declared that “SJP demonizes and delegitimizes Israel as an ‘apartheid’,  ’colonialist’,  ’oppressor’ state and openly advocates and practices boycotts, divestments, sanctions (BDS) against Israel, creating an openly hostile environment for Israel supporters.”  They charged that the university would not be silent if a different student conference demonized minorities, Palestinians, or gays.

Some protesters came independently, alerted by e-mails or social media.  Others were members of groups such as Americans for a Safe Israel, Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam,  Amcha-Coalition for Jewish Concerns, National Council on Jewish Affairs, and Liberals for Israel.  Among the many signs they held up to passers-by were “Occupy Columbia With Truth and Justice, not Lies and Anti-Israel Incitement”.

 “We’re here because once again we have to fight against the lies and myths perpetrated by the Arab world,” said Helen Freedman, executive director of AFSI.   It’s destructive not only for Israel but for America because ‘Israel Apartheid Week’ totally distorts the meaning of apartheid, justice and democracy.  Columbia University, which hosted Ahmadinejad in recent years, should clean up its act.  As one of the premiere higher institutions in America, it should promote positive things, not the negative and destructive ideas of radical Islam.  We’re here to enlighten students to the truth.”

Larry Domnitch, an academic and historian, said he came “to express my support for Israel in the face of so much misinformation that is being disseminated on this campus and others as well. In a few weeks will be the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration which expressed the inherent and historical right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel. Ninety four years later that right is still being contested.”

Joseph Rapaport, one of the demonstrators engaging with passers-by at the university’s gate, contended that the anti-Israel conference inside was not an expression of free speech, but “to give only one, incorrect  side of the picture.  Columbia has the responsibility to be more critical of what’s going on.”

Retired physician Dr. Marvin Belsky said he helped organize the protest because “campuses are being open to delegitimize and defame Israel, and we have to fight back. It’s a travesty that Columbia University, without taking away one’s free speech, should not condemn the defamation of a democratic state in the Middle East which shows tremendous tolerance for many ethnic groups, and is a very important American ally.”

Under the watchful eye of police officers, the protesters spoke with pedestrians who streamed by and in and out of the campus.  Exchanges with participants of the Students for Justice in Palestine conference grew prolonged and heated.  At one point, words flew between a protester and a couple, and physical police intervention became necessary. 

Commenting on SJC members’ taunts that the protesters were “fascists”, Dr. Belsky pointed out that historically fascism was characterized by violence; in this generation, Hamas’ firing of thousands of missiles into Israel, or the Palestinian Authority’s goal of a “judenrein” state within Israel’s borders.