Student agitators at Columbia University began their spring semester by storming an Israeli history class, a video shows.
A group of masked students dressed in keffiyehs “threw” leaflets with broken ones Star of David under a boot, a burning Israeli flag and armed militants on students, according to stories and videos shared on X.
Among the messages on the flyers were “the enemy will not see tomorrow,” “Burn Zionism to the ground,” and “Tear Zionism down,” according to images shared by Class of 2026 student Lisha Baker.
“It’s the first day… History of modern Israel @Columbia and masked protestors just barged in to intimidate and disrupt,” the student wrote. “So much for that ‘academic freedom’. Welcome to Columbia, 2025!”
Pictured is a poster handed to students by anti-Israel protesters in a class on the history of modern Israel on Tuesday. (@LishiBaker on X)
Video of the incident shows Avi Shilon, a visiting professor at the school’s Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, asking students to leave as other students can be seen returning the leaflets.
“This is it violation of civil rights” said one of the students. “We’re trying to learn.”
One of the protesters starts reading from the script. “We’ll give you the inside scoop on Columbia University’s normalization of genocide.”
Baker, who is a Middle Eastern history major at the school, said Washington Free Beacon that the incident left him “extremely upset.”
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One student in the class said they were “extremely upset” by the incident. (@LishiBaker on X)
“Not only am I paying a lot of money to be here, but I actually want to participate in class, and it’s really frustrating when there are students in this school who don’t care about learning, don’t care about the class and are intentionally disruptive and intimidating inside the classroom,” he added. .
Shilon told the paper that he was torn between his desire to “protect.” [his] students,” but he didn’t “want to inflame the protesters too much.”
Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate in front of Columbia University on Tuesday, September 3, in New York. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)
He told the paper that just before the protesters stormed his classroom, he told his students that they were “going to learn two stories: one about the Palestinians and one about the Israelis.”
“It didn’t discourage me; on the contrary, it just makes me feel that it is very important to teach and study Israel from a real historian whose field of expertise is that,” Shilon told the news outlet.
According to Shilon’s online course description, the class explores Israeli politics from the establishment of the state to the present, focusing on the demographics that “create the fabric of Israeli politics and society” including “Palestinian citizens of Israel.”
Colombia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, said the institution “strongly condemns[s] this disorder, as well as flyers that included violent images that are unacceptable on our campus and in our community.”
“No group of students has the right to disrupt another group of students in a Columbia University classroom. Disrupting academic activities is a violation of the University’s Code of Conduct, and the nature of the disruption may violate other University policies,” Armstrong wrote in a statement.
“We will quickly investigate and resolve this act. We want to be absolutely clear that any act of anti-Semitism or other form of discrimination, harassment or intimidation against members of our community is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
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On campus, protesters with Columbia University’s Apartheid Divest and the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine protested in support of the “liberation of Palestine after the cease-fire,” blocking street traffic as they marched outside the university.
Among the phrases spray-painted across campus the night before were “Gaza Rises Columbia Falls,” the Free-Beacon reported.
