Anti-Israel protests at Columbia a frightening 'attack on American values,' student says
Katie, a senior at Columbia, recounts her experiences on campus with the enraged protesters
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A senior at Columbia University decried her institution and classmates who took part in anti-Israel protests on campus and in greater Morningside Heights.
Katie, who described herself as being of Iranian descent with elders who escaped the theocratic hardliner regime in Tehran to avoid religious persecution, said she had to move off campus because the demonstrations in Morningside Heights became too overwhelming.
In one clip aired by "The Story," young people — some clothed in Palestinian flags — were seen shouting their hope that every day would be "an Oct. 7" in reference to Hamas' massacre of Israeli civilians last October.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Katie said her friend shared the video with her, which appeared to be taken near a food cart on Broadway.
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Pro-Palestine protesters demonstrate along NYPD police lines outside of Columbia University’s campus in New York City on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Multiple students were arrested as officers cleared an encampment on the campus’ lawn. (Peter Gerber for Fox News Digital)
"I think Columbia certainly has a lot of culpability in this. They've hired professors who have said that these attacks on Oct. 7 were awesome, were great victories for the Palestinian martyrs, and who have been known to be antisemitic," Katie said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She highlighted one Arab studies professor who was invoked during a recent House Education Committee hearing where the school's president was being grilled.
Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., asked Columbia President Minouche Shafik on Wednesday about Dr. Joseph Massad's comments about the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre.
Walberg noted Massad wrote at the time about the "innovative Palestinian resistance" and of "awesome" scenes from that day — although not the massacre directly. In response, Shafik said in part that she condemns the professor's remarks and that he "has been spoken to," though her fuller answer was interrupted by the lawmaker.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}IRANIAN-AMERICAN LAWYER WHOSE RESPONSE TO ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS WENT VIRAL PREDICTS NEW WORLD WAR
On "The Story," Katie cited Massad as an example of a factor that could lead to students protesting so virulently.
"You wonder how these students get indoctrinated with these beliefs, but I think it goes even deeper than that, honestly. I think it's a rejection of American values," she said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"As a descendant of Iranians who escaped the regime for religious persecution, I'm so grateful, and so is my family, to be in such a wonderful country, to have these freedoms, and the fact that people take advantage of it not only to spew hate, but also to take it to this level to burn the American flag."
Katie added that the protests changed her view of the school for which she had worked toward attending all her life. She said Columbia was her "dream school," but that it's become a "miserable" experience.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I cannot wait to get out of there, and I will never return," she said, adding she also moved off campus.
"So many people, including people who I was friends with, turned out to support the murder of my friends and family," she added.
Katie said the protesters' claims the IDF are an imperial, bloodthirsty militia are not grounded in fact — as she compared the Israeli military to that of U.S. forces, whom she described as a "moral, wonderful, defensive force that takes so many precautions."