Sahar Tatak and Vajahat Ali recount violent assaults at Columbia and Yale, where chants like "Intifada" and "from the river to the sea" were interpreted as calls for genocide against Jews. While Crystal Ball defends protesters as responding to alleged Israeli atrocities causing up to 34,000 Palestinian deaths, Tatak highlights how human blockades prevented assailant identification and led to her hospitalization. The segment escalates into a fierce debate over whether these slogans constitute hate speech or protected free expression, ultimately questioning if the university's warning for Jewish students to leave validates an unsafe campus environment driven by conflated anti-Zionism and antisemitism. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Waving Flags and Hospital Treatment00:02:47
The White House has condemned what it calls blatantly anti-Semitic statements at student protests against the war in Gaza.
Fractious demonstrations at Columbia University in New York have rumbled on for six days, while arrests have been made at other major colleges, including Yale.
Jewish students at Columbia have been warned to go home with classes moved online.
Some pro-Palestine protesters have been suspended.
Critics say this is a free speech issue, conflating criticism of Israel with hatred of Jews.
Others say it's simply unacceptable, that Jewish students do not feel safe.
Would you want me to discuss all this?
Are the editor of the Yale Free Press, Sahar Tatak, who was jabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag by a protester, the Arab-Israeli journalist, Yusuf Hadad, who was assaulted at a protest at Columbia University, the host of Breaking Points, Crystal Ball, and author of Go Back to Where You Come From, Vajahat Ali.
Well, welcome to all of you.
Let me start with you, if I may, Saha.
Tell me exactly what happened to you.
Sure.
So I went to a large anti-Semitic campus rally on Saturday night to document the protest with another visibly Jewish friend.
He wears a black hat and tzitzit, which are ritual fringes, and has a beard.
And I dress in ritually modest clothing and wear a Star of David.
And we were immediately identified by protest organizers as, I guess, the enemy.
And so they blockaded us by creating a human blockade, as in standing in a line with their arms linked in front of us.
And eventually, Netanyahu and I were separated.
And so each of us were assigned separate human blockades made of protest organizers that taunted us and waved flashlights in our face.
And as the other 500 anti-Semitic students at the rally noticed us and identified us, they joined in on the taunting.
And so I was encircled by 500 students who were singing and dancing against the Jewish people in a circle around this plaza at Yale, basically the central plaza on our campus.
And as they taunted me and waved their middle finger in my face and waved their kefias in my face, one of them took his Palestinian flag, waved it in my face, and then jabbed me in the left eye.
And you ended up going to hospital for treatment for this?
I did.
So first I tried to run after the assailant.
It was extremely disorienting.
And the human blockade continued to stand in front of me to prevent me from holding the student accountable and to protect the student from receiving consequences for assaulting me.
And so then I went to the police who called an ambulance.
The EMT checked me out.
And then the EMT said we should take you to the hospital.
And so I went to the hospital.
Violent Protests and Genocide Claims00:08:19
Okay.
And we've got a little clip, I think.
It's not actually of you getting hit with the flag.
It's just of the general melee.
Let's take a look at this.
This is the blockade that was going on at the time.
There's no sound with this clip, but it shows a little sense of what was happening.
How scared were you about what was happening?
And in response to those who say that the vast majority of protesters are not anti-Semitic and are simply protesting about the Israeli government's response to the Hamas terror attacks, which they believe is massively disproportionate.
What do you say to that?
So with the question of how I was feeling, I think can also answer the second question.
The reason I felt so unsafe is because I know that these students want me dead and I know that they know who I am.
And how do I know this?
Because they shout en masse, there is only one solution into FADA revolution at these rallies.
They shout about martyrs.
They shout about resistance is justified.
I mean, after October 7th, I saw hundreds of peers, people from my classes, shouting, resistance is justified.
And celebrating the resistance's success is something that many of them posted on social media.
So, with this in mind, of course I feel unsafe because I know that they support genocide against the Jewish people by terrorist organizations such as Hamas, but not only by Hamas.
There's another picture at this rally, and the rally has become a multi-day event, which included an encampment, like a set of 40 or so tents taking over campus.
And one of the posters at this rally is a poster of Walid Dhaka, who with, he led a PFLP group to mutilate and murder a 19-year-old Israeli Jew.
Okay, let's bring in Vajraha Ali.
Vajra, this is very disconcerting seeing these scenes on college campuses in America.
You know, I'm all for free speech.
It's the bedrock of Piers Morgan on Center.
It's what we're all about.
But free speech should not involve Jewish students being terrorized with this kind of rhetoric, which, you know, we've seen and heard it all with our own eyes and ears, that there are people involved in these protests who are chanting things which would present a real threat and danger to Jewish students.
It's unacceptable, isn't it?
It is unacceptable.
And first of all, I would say a happy Passover to all Jewish cousins around the world who are celebrating.
Hopefully there's peace and security for all our communities.
I'll also say, like I said on your show before, there's been a stunning spike in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia as a result of this war, which has resulted in harassment, threats, doxing.
And in the case of three Palestinian students, they were shot.
One is paralyzed.
And a six-year-old Palestinian boy, Wadia, was killed.
His mother was stabbed.
In this particular case right now, I feel really bad for our two guests who were subjected to violence, who I'm sure are traumatized.
I'm grateful that no one has any permanent damage or injury.
And I would hope that we can all agree here that anti-Semitism, Islamophobia is a problem, has no place in these protests.
But we can also agree that we can have empathy for why people are protesting.
Overwhelming majority of them, by the way, are peaceful, according to law enforcement, according to actual reporters on the ground who are not anti-Semitic.
And many of these protesters, by the way, are Jewish.
And why are they protesting, Piers?
Because they're protesting what they consider to be genocide, some do, and Israel killing 34,000 Palestinians.
You're absolutely healthy.
Wait, wait, wait.
I don't know what's going on.
70,000 Palestinians.
You said I'll come to you in Hamas.
Just let me finish.
That's what it is.
I'm sorry.
Just let me know.
Let him make his point.
Let's be honest with you.
I will come to you to respond in a moment.
Let him finish his point.
Just I'm about to finish.
I'm about to finish.
What are people protesting, including Jews, Jewish students?
They're protesting Israel's response to 1,200 people being killed by Hamas.
So we should have empathy for Israelis and the 1,200 people and their families being killed and the 34,000 Palestinians who have been killed, the 70,000 Palestinians who have been injured.
Here we go.
Or the 1 million people have been displaced.
And also, as we have seen, we can have empathy because there are kids who are amputated, kids who have lost their eyes, their limbs.
We have seen starvation now, famine.
And this is why there's a growing pierce, multi-faith, and multi-racial movement for peace.
And I think all of us should also be very wary, very wary of people who are weaponizing anti-Semitism.
People who are weaponizing anti-Semitism to crush this dissent, especially people like Elise Stefanik, a Republican who promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories like the replacement theory and says nothing about Donald Trump who dined with the leading white nationalist and anti-Semite Nick Fuentes and just today in the morning again repeated the anti-Semitic conspiracy of a Soros witch hunt.
So let's all agree that anti-Semitism should not be weaponized.
Jews and Muslims should not be weaponized and used against each other.
And anti-Semitism and Islamophobia peaceful protests.
I want to get to Yusuf Hadad to remind viewers, you're an Arab-Israeli journalist.
You were assaulted at a protest at Columbia University on Thursday.
We have got a clip showing a little bit of this incident.
Women commit suicide!
Money traffic!
Jump off a building!
You can do whatever the!
I'm not going anywhere!
I will keep revealing the truth about all of you!
So we see you clearly there being struck by one of these protesters.
But you're getting very incensed by what you're hearing from Vajraya.
So what do you want to say?
Look, first of all, you can see exactly who are the peaceful protesters they are.
They want freedom of speech when it only comes to one side.
But if it's our freedom of speech for me to come as an Arab who lives in Israel to show the reality about our life in Israel.
Now, yes, Israel is far from being perfect, just like any other country in the world.
But between what they are telling and how they are presenting this conflict to the reality in Israel, there's a huge gap which I cannot, cannot agree to.
Now, when I go and I was supposed to have a lecture at Columbia University, that's why I was there.
And then I see this protest where they're chanting from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
By the way, in Arabic, it sounds different.
In Arabic, it says, from the river to the sea, Palestine is an Arab.
So it even further than that shows their idea on the fact that there is no room for the state of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East.
Add to that that exactly the chant of Intifada.
I know what Intifada means as an Arab.
I know what Antifada means, not just as a right translation of violent uprising.
Intifada means the more death of Jews, the more death of Arabs.
That's what Intifada means, and they're chanting for that.
And when I ask why you're chanting for this, it will lead to more death in the land of Israel.
It will lead more death in Gaza and the West Bank.
And they say to me, well, this is what we want.
Of course, that's what they want.
They eventually, at the end of that rally or the end of that demonstration, they go back, they go to their pub, they drink their beer or they do whatever they want.
They live in a democracy.
They're not the one to suffer consequences in the Middle East.
They're just doing all this from here.
Very convenient.
But you know something that I found it very, very unbelievable?
You know, all the time talking about the majority.
Of course, there are peaceful people.
There are also people who are locals who are being brainwashed and don't realize what they're chanting and don't even know which river to which sea and what does intifada mean.
But there are many protesters who are violent protesters.
Conflating Intifada with Hate Speech00:16:08
Just see how you describe me and how did you say my name with the fact that I was attacked.
You will never see someone from the Palestinian side says that he was attacked by a Jewish or a pro-Israeli demonstrator.
This is the thing that people try always to take it for Islamophobia, to take it for anti-Semitism.
This is something very simple.
You have their group of people supporting terrorism and instead of the other group who are peacefully protesting, coming against them and saying that they are not part of us, they are protecting them.
They are trying to do absolutely everything to defend them.
Look at my attacker.
Through the whole entire demonstration, he was without any cover.
The second he decided to attack me, he covered his face.
Why?
Why did he decide to cover his?
Because he knows that he is going to attack me.
Because he cannot handle the truth and he cannot handle it, especially when it comes from someone who's an Arab who lives in there and knows exactly the reality.
So don't let anybody fool anybody.
These are dangerous protesters.
And the more the NYPD suffer that or tolerate that, they're going to keep being more extreme and they're going to be physically more attacking.
There were cops over there and they did not stop them from attacking me.
Cops just three meters from me.
I mean, how can we even agree to something like that?
So I'm seeking for justice and I've asked and I've asked, I've already appointed a lawyer to the lawfare project to seek for justice.
We know the identity of the attacker and we should see him in jail and we should seek for justice as soon as possible in order to prevent them from trying something like this again and again against other people.
Okay, I want to bring in Crystal.
You replied on X to the White House statement about the protests at Colombia by saying they are more upset about college students protesting a genocide than a population of millions being starved to death.
I mean I can listen, I believe fundamentally in the right to free democratic protest.
I mean it's the bedrock of any free democratic country.
But I don't believe in violent hate rhetoric.
And if you're a Jewish student at one of these colleges, hearing some of these chants, which we're all hearing, it's pretty terrifying, isn't it?
Well, here's what I would say.
First of all, I echo Wajihad in saying I'm glad that both of our two co-panelists are okay.
And I certainly support the call for justice for Yosef.
And I hope his assailant is in fact apprehended and accountability is meted out.
I think it's disgusting and frankly a cheap trick to use some isolated incidents to smear an entire protest movement.
And I think it's very clear what's going on here.
You know, a majority of young people and a majority of college students, majority of Biden voters believe that Israel is committing a genocide and that American taxpayer dollars are going to assist in that genocide.
They're outraged by that and they're protesting.
And by the way, they are not the same.
Hold on.
I said everybody who says it protects Jews and Arabs, Yusuf, you are clearly lying again and again.
You must let other guests speak.
Am I going to be allowed to speak here?
Am I going to be allowed to speak here?
Yes, you are.
So a majority of young people.
Do not speak over other guests, please.
Israel is committing a genocide and they are protesting that.
And by the way, they've won the argument.
If you look at now, it's 60-40 against sending military aid to Israel.
It's a majority that disapprove in America of Israel's action with regards to the Gaza Strip.
So it's a cheap trick as old as time.
Use a few isolated incidents to try to smear an entire movement, which has the benefit, number one, of attempting to delegitimize it, and number two, of distracting from the continued atrocities which are unfolding at the hands of the IDF in the Gaza Strip.
We just had multiple attacks on Rafa.
22 people killed, including 18 children.
We just had another mass grave discovered outside of a hospital in Khan Yunus.
But rather than talking about that, we're talking about a few assholes at a protest.
Yeah, guess what?
Assholes exist.
I lament that as much as the next person.
But I don't remember this level of condemnation when it came to people with actual power saying, hey, we should Josh Hawley, let's bounce the rubble in Gaza.
Lindsey Graham, let's level the place.
Max Miller, we're going to turn that into a parking lot and on and on and on.
So this is...
Listen, I condemn anti-Semitism.
Certainly condemn violence, but let's be serious about who the villains are right now.
Would you agree that Hamas are villains?
Hang on, I'm asking a question, would you agree that Hamas are villains terrorists, and so is the Israeli government, given the number of civilians that they have intentionally targeted and killed, including targeting with a complete siege, which has triggered a famine in northern Gaza and caused children to literally starve to death?
It's collective punishment.
There's just no denying it.
Okay.
Saha, let me bring you back.
This is absolutely lies, Fierce, but you cannot, this is absolutely lies.
It's a lie on a line.
It's a narrative that was adopted by the terrorist organization Hamas.
This is what they want.
I'm telling you, I'm speaking to Palestinians in Gaza.
I don't know if any of the people in this panel have direct contact with Palestinians in Gaza.
I have many friends there, and I speak to them.
And I also shared many videos of Palestinians who are calling the fact that Hamas are the one who's responsible.
Hamas hiding among them and hiding under the ground like cowards.
And it was Hamas who uses the hospitals and Hamas that uses mosques and also churches as terror base.
The Palestinians are saying that.
And then you have some Americans come and say otherwise.
And talking about the famine in Gaza, tons of aid was entered to Israel, through Egypt, from also the UAE, from also Jordan.
Tons of aid.
They are talking about showing how they are having food, but those pictures you will not see.
You will not see them not even in CNN or any other media because you don't want to adopt this language.
By the way, let me jump in.
No, no, hang on.
One of the reasons that we're not seeing what you're describing is because the IDF won't let journalists go in and see what's going on.
So that is part of the problem.
But there can be no doubt there's a massive humanitarian crisis there, or that all the people are starving to death.
Enough TikTok videos.
Well, if the IDF has nothing to hide, wait a second.
Don't all talk over each other.
You can't say there's a lot of videos.
If the IDF has nothing to hide, let the media have complete free run.
Let them see it for themselves.
And they won't.
They won't.
And as far as I can say, as far as I'm concerned, they should be allowed.
All I'm saying is that you can go to TikTok on the Arab social media and you will see the Palestinian themselves uploading it.
Okay, you don't have any development of the Arabic.
I would rather see.
I would rather see the media have confetti access to what is actually happening.
But I want to bring in this a war zone because of Hamas.
You can't just talk over everybody.
I want to bring in Saha, as I said earlier.
Saha, you've had it categorized that it's just a few people in these crowds who are chanting the bad stuff.
And yet you have said that Jewish students feel very threatened.
I mean, how many people are you hearing using these chants, which are clear threats?
Right.
So it's a good question.
It's just not a few people.
I have seen hundreds of students that I have classes with after October 7th.
We're talking October 9th, chanting, when people are occupied, resistance is justified in direct reference to the atrocities of October 7th.
And let's remember that we're talking about Hamas coming into people's houses and amputating mothers in front of their children and gouging out fathers' eyes.
And that in the eyes of hundreds of my peers is justified.
And just this weekend, we're talking about hundreds of my peers shouting, there is only one solution, intifada revolution.
Intifada is a call to genocide against Jewish people.
This does not represent a minority.
And the protest organizers that were human blockading me are at the forefront of their movement.
So it's not random unaffiliated people that are creating this unsafe environment.
It's actually the students that identified me immediately are running these rallies and decided that they were going to taunt and blockade me and restrict my freedom of movement and then cause the other 500 people in the rally to behave towards me with hostility and violence.
They all passed by me.
There's a video on my Twitter of students passing by me in a circle as they encircled me.
And they all, one after the other, taunted me.
It was not just like one of them taunted me.
They all taunted me one after the other, waving things in my face.
Yeah, and then this culminated in a physical assault.
Okay, but let me just say that.
I just think there's a conflation going on here by a number of these protesters.
I don't know how many because I haven't seen them physically myself, but I'm hearing it's a significant number.
They seem to be conflating what the Israeli government is doing as a political decision, which is to wage this war on Hamas and the way they're waging it, with Jewish people generally.
And that, and when you start using rhetoric, which threatens the lives of Jewish people, surely we can all agree that's completely unacceptable, can't we?
Absolutely.
And I'm glad you said that.
What you're hearing, right?
So actually people on the ground, right?
Reporters on the ground, journalists on the ground, are saying that these are peaceful protests.
They did not witness this.
And on the ground, a lot of the protesters, about a third of the protesters, are Jewish.
And we're seeing Jewish Americans posting videos on TikTok, like Emmett said.
What are you talking about?
Look at the Muslims praying.
We're going to celebrate Shabbat.
It's a multi-faith and multi-racial movement against what they consider to be a genocide.
They want peace.
But if you're chanting, okay, if they're chanting about intifada, then they are chanting threats of genocide against the very people they claim are waging a genocide.
Are you suggesting that the Jewish students who are with these protesters are actually for their own genocide?
Do you agree with the state of Israel that yesterday tweeted that they're terrorists?
The state of Israel yesterday said that American students, a multiracial, multi-faith coalition across this country that is overwhelmingly peacefully protesting, according to the Jewish students themselves, according to law enforcement, and according to the media, do you consider them to be terrorists?
I do not.
I think people are chanting advocating for the Jewish people.
People are chanting about intifada.
I do not.
Well, I think if you're chanting about intifada, and I've seen others talking proudly about backing Hamas, then yeah, you're supporting terrorism.
Who is supporting Hamas?
There's a few people, isolated incidents.
And yesterday, everyone should take solace in this, that yesterday, the students were organizing the protests in Colombia.
Can you just let me finish, Ahmed?
Yesterday, this will make you happy.
Just answer the question that organizers are chanting.
It's not one president who condemned.
It's the whole student.
Yesterday, just let me finish.
Yesterday, when it all came out, these four or five videos that came out condemned them in full.
The protesters.
And then they said, they're not part of the protest.
They're outside the school.
And then the Jews inside the protest movement are sending you videos saying that this does not represent us.
So I, for one, think that we should put the focus on what are people saying.
They are against Collective punishment against Palestinians that has killed over 34,000 people thanks to direct and severe sugarcane from the United States.
Absolutely sugarcoating.
They want peace and they went the end of an occupation.
I would think everyone here who believes in justice and peace will be against an occupation and against a war that has been an utter failure for the past seven months that has brought no security Israelis or Palestinians.
Why do you not join me in Crystal in saying an anti-anti-Semitism, anti-Islamophobia, and for a ceasefire and the release of hostages?
Do you agree that these protesters tweeted that?
And only with Israel do you release all the hostages?
We can talk about ceasefire, by the way.
But do you agree with Israel that the protesters are terrorists?
I really find it very, very amusing that you are saying that they are peaceful protesters while they're chanting antifada and tifada.
Or you are lying, or you are so brainwashed that you cannot even see the truth in front of your eyes.
Entifada antifada.
I will repeat that question.
The more of death of Jews and Arabs.
So when you chant like this with the whole group chanting like this, that is the chant.
So do you agree that they should not chant antifada antifada?
As I say terrorists, do you agree that they shouldn't chant antifada antifada?
Are you agreeing that they shouldn't chant from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free?
Because that means the demolish of the state of Israel.
Do you agree that anybody who raises a single family?
Let me bring in Crystal.
Crystal?
Okay.
So first of all, intifada means uprising from the river to the sea.
Somehow when it's, you know, Benjamin Netyahu using that phraseology or holding up a map that literally shows Israel from the river to the sea.
Answer your right question.
Can you please, dude, just for a second.
Okay.
What do you mean?
You've seen the second antifada.
You don't know anything.
You are not from the Middle East.
Suddenly that's over the line.
But let me just say, listen, people have a right to be offended by offensive.
That's his right.
But guess what?
She's not even a scientist.
You can respond after that speak.
Unbelievable.
Free speech is not just about speech that is comfortable.
Free speech is also about speech that is uncomfortable and yes, even offensive.
Which is why, you know, Brian Mast, who said there's no such thing as an innocent Palestinian civilian, a member of Congress who's in an actual position of power, or the many Israeli officials who talked about Palestinians are human animals, no uninvolved civilians, Amalek, all of these things, I support their right to say it.
It's condemnable.
I think it's very revealing.
I think it is genocidal.
But free speech also protects statements that you find to be uncomfortable.
Here's the question, Crystal, for you.
One last thing, Pierce.
Let me just say one last thing.
I think we know that this isn't a genuine conversation about Jewish student safety because we see zero concern for the many Jewish students who are at the, in fact, at the center of these protests.
Somehow they're invisible.
And you're right, Pierce, to point out.
You're right, Piers, to point out that it is anti-Semitic to conflate all Jews with the state of Israel and with the policies of the state of Israel.
But I would also ask you, I would ask you to say that.
Chanting Intifada at Jewish People00:06:27
I am not a Jew.
Hang on, Yusuf.
I'm not a Jew, and I'm telling you, Pierre, I'm not a Jew.
I'm not a Jew.
And I say it, and I will say it all the time.
Never generalize a group of people.
Of course, there are part of the Jews.
To clarify for viewers, you are Arab-Israeli, but you're Christian.
Is that right?
Correct.
Okay, so I wanted to ask Crystal this.
I want to ask Crystal one question about intifada.
Can you tell me about an intifada that wasn't a violent uprising during the 75 years of this conflict?
Listen, you can support the non-violent parts of an uprising and condemn the violent parts of it.
That wasn't my question.
My question was, can you violence against the press?
Can you tell me?
I condemn violence.
Can you tell me of any intifada in the 75 years of this conflict that hasn't involved a violent uprising?
So that when somebody who is Jewish hears the word intifada, they don't automatically think violent uprising because they've all been violent.
I think that's fair, Piers.
I think that's a fair point.
Now, the first intifad I would point out was overwhelmingly peaceful, but that doesn't erase the fact that there were violent acts.
That's why I said, listen, if you're offended by the rally chance, that's okay.
It's still free speech.
But I think to smear this entire protest group with saying they have a violent intent, you can ask the NYPD chief who arrested protesters at Colombia.
He literally said they were all non-violent.
So I just think this is such a clear attempt to distract from what's happening in Gaza and try to change a conversation and debate that has been lost by those who would say, listen, Israel no matter what, and we're going to support them and ship weapons no matter what.
Well, I think, look, I would just say, before I come to you, Sef, before I come to you, Sef, I would say this, that Vajahat, you do keep talking about peaceful protests, but actually, if you are chanting things like intifada at a bunch of Jewish people, then they are not going to see that as a message of peace.
They're going to see that as a direct threat on their lives.
So that's not a peaceful protest to me.
Well, the thing is this.
People also are terrified from the words Allahu Akbar.
It means something different.
Even the word martyrs, when it comes to Islam, means to those who are killed.
This includes the children who have been killed, the women, the pregnant moms who have been killed, the 34,000 people have been killed.
We've seen the weaponization of Islamophobia where certain words are deliberately mistranslated and misinterpreted.
And we've also seen, again, the overwhelming majority of these protesters are not saying these things.
We have videos of them.
They include Jews.
They include black people, white people.
And meanwhile, Israel calls them absolute terrorists.
That's the only thing that's a problem.
Terrorists.
Please let me finish.
And by the way, I have no idea if you were at Colombia.
Please just say that.
I'm asking you.
They were shouting in good faith.
Let me just finish.
They were calling me to commit suicide.
They attacked me physically and verbally.
Please.
Don't lie.
It wasn't one or two or three.
It was a large group of people.
And what you're trying to do is harsh.
And I will not allow this person.
Okay, Yousef, you made your point.
Don't lie.
Yousef, you've made your point.
I'm not the one who was at the end of the day.
You're shouting at everybody.
Don't try to sugarcoat me.
Let him finish his point.
Just listen, Pierce, people on the ground, right?
You've said this before.
I've heard this.
People on the ground, reporters from NBC who are there, reporters from CNN, not anti-Semites, did not hear this.
They're overwhelmingly peaceful.
Jewish neighbors, Jewish faculty members, Jewish students have said this is a mischaracterization of our community.
Campus Hillel, Campus Hillel, the center of student life in Colombia, told students not to leave, although they said that they want to feel safe and they want that leave.
Okay, I would say back to you.
I would say back to you.
Hang on.
I've also seen...
I would say back to you that Rabbi Eli Buchler, I think is the, or Buchla, told students at Columbia on Sunday over WhatsApp, the events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it clear that Columbia University's public safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students' safety in the face of extreme anti-Semitism and anarchy.
It deeply pains me to say I would strongly recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved.
It's not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus.
No one should have to endure this level of hatred, let alone a school.
That's a rabbi at Columbia University.
These are not just peace-loving people spewing peaceful rhetoric.
There are people in these protests who are making very threatening chants towards Jewish people to the extent that rabbis are telling Jewish students to stay at home.
That's a complete outrage, isn't it?
And who responded?
And who responded after the rabbi?
The campus Hillel.
And if you know anything about Jewish American life, you should trust Campus Hillel as the center of Jewish American life.
Campus Hillel afterwards said, no Jewish students do not go home.
So campus Hillel should be more trusted right now and the Jewish students who are again part of this people.
I want to remind everyone who wants to fight.
They want to run away from the fight.
Stop looking at it as if it's not going to unleash against the people.
And the police themselves said that these are peaceful protests.
We cannot Jews or pro-Israelis.
That is the truth.
You cannot silence.
You cannot silence multi-faith and multiracial protests against Jews out of Israel.
Collective punishment against Palestine.
All right, let me bring.
Okay.
Let me bring back Saha.
Hang on.
Hang on.
If you talk over each other, nobody can hear either of you.
No one can hear either of you when you shout over each other.
Nobody will hear you when you shout over people.
So Saha, I want to just ask you, what are you going to do as a Jewish student now?
What will you do in the next few days and weeks?
Yeah, thank you for asking.
God willing, this evening I'll be home and not on campus for the holiday of Passover.
Student Assaults and Campus Safety00:01:49
And when I return to campus, I've made a serious effort to receive direct protection from the university and have an escort on a regular basis.
But the university has in the past failed and is continuing to not provide me with that direct protection.
And so to be really quite honest with you, I don't know what I will do because I have seen hundreds of students organize to call for the genocide of me and my people.
And I have seen hundreds of students taunt visibly Jewish students live and in person at these rallies.
My peers are, I'm frightened by them, to be frank.
And I should be because I've been assaulted once.
And I don't see why it shouldn't happen again because it's being organized and encouraged and protected by the rallies themselves and by the rally organizers themselves.
Again, when a student assaulted me by jabbing me in the eye, what happened afterwards was that the human blockade of protest organizers, of student leaders in these anti-Semitic rallies, that blockade stopped me from finding out who my assailant was.
It's all about violence.
It's all about having a student assault another student and then ensuring that they have immunity because their face is covered in a kepiyah and because you let them run away.
This is how these protests are crafted to create incidents of violence against students like me and then say, oh, it wasn't us.
It was someone unaffiliated.
But we protected them.
But they're a student at the university.
But we let them into our rally and we let them stay at our rally.
It's a method and it works, obviously.
Okay.
We've got to leave it there.
I appreciate that passions are running high on either side and I appreciate the spirited debate.