Video of Columbia Protesters Taking Action Against 'Zionists' Goes Viral

Videos showing pro-Palestinian student protesters who set up an encampment on Columbia University's campus forming a human chain against people they say are Zionists have gone viral on social media.

Hundreds of protesters formed the blockade against "a small group of Jewish students," Sahar Tartak, the editor-in-chief of the Yale Free Press, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, alongside a clip.

Another video posted on X by Jessica Schwalb, a reporter with the Columbia Daily Spectator, a student newspaper, showed one person calling for others to form the human chain because of "Zionists that have entered the campus."

"Can I get everyone's attention?" the person can be heard saying in the video.

The person then calls on others to repeat: "We have Zionists who have entered the camp. We are going to create a human chain where I am standing so that they do not pass this point and infringe upon our privacy and try to destruct our community. Please join me in this chain."

At one point, a man can be seen confronting a protester and asking: "Excuse me, do you see what you're doing to us? Do you see how hostile this is and you're asking me not to record?"

Protesters can then be seen linking arms and taking steps forward, chanting: "We ask that you please respect our privacy and our community guidelines which you have so far disrespected and leave our camp."

Tensions on university campuses have been high over the past six months as Israel continues its war in Gaza.

The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the Associated Press reported, citing local health officials. It erupted after Hamas' unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which killed around 1,200 people and saw about 250 others taken hostage.

Last Wednesday, students at Columbia set up a "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" on campus to protest Israel's ongoing military action in Gaza and Columbia's "continued financial investment in corporations that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and occupation in Palestine."

The university called in New York police to clear the encampment on Thursday. More than 100 students were arrested, and the university has said they have been suspended.

Student protesters have since resumed their encampment, saying in a statement that they "demand [their] voices be heard against the mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza."

There have been reports of Jewish students facing harassment on campus, prompting condemnation from the White House and other officials.

In a statement, the student protest coalition said it was "frustrated by media distractions focusing on inflammatory individuals who do not represent us." A reporter for NBC wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that they didn't see a "single instance of violence or aggression" at the student encampment on Thursday and Friday.

On Sunday, a rabbi associated with the university urged Jewish students to go home, saying recent events "have made it clear that Columbia University's Public Safety and the NYPD [New York Police Department] cannot guarantee Jewish students' safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy."

A Columbia spokesperson told Newsweek on Sunday that the university is acting on students' concerns.

"Columbia students have the right to protest, but they are not allowed to disrupt campus life or harass and intimidate fellow students and members of our community," the spokesperson said. "We are acting on concerns we are hearing from our Jewish students and are providing additional support and resources to ensure that our community remains safe."

The university cancelled in-person classes on Monday, with university President Nemat Minouche Shafik saying it was an effort to "deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps."

Shafik said that a "working group of Deans, university administrators and faculty members will try to bring this crisis to a resolution" in the coming days. "That includes continuing discussions with the student protestors and identifying actions we can take as a community to enable us to peacefully complete the term and return to respectful engagement with each other," she said.

New York Mayor Eric Adams said on Sunday that the NYPD has increased the presence of officers around the Columbia campus to "protect students and all New Yorkers on nearby public streets."

He said the NYPD cannot have a presence on the campus unless it is requested by senior university officials but that officers "stand ready to respond if another request is made by the university, as they did on Thursday."

The Columbia student protesters' statement late on Sunday said they will continue to peacefully call for "divestment from genocide."

"At universities across the nation, our movement is united in valuing every human life," it said. "Our members have been misidentified by a politically motivated mob, doxxed in the press, arrested by the NYPD, and locked out of their homes by the university. We have knowingly put ourselves in danger because we can no longer be complicit in Columbia funneling our tuition dollars and grant funding into companies that profit from death."

It added: "We firmly reject any form of hate or bigotry and stand vigilant against non-students attempting to disrupt the solidarity being forged among students—Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, Black, and pro-Palestinian classmates and colleagues who represent the full diversity of our country."

Update 4/22/24, 6:25 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to add additional information.