After a class on Israeli history was disrupted by anti-Israel activists distributing flyers with violent imagery, Columbia University announced it is conducting an expedited investigation and is deploying security to classes that also may be targeted.
On the first day of Columbia’s spring semester, masked activists entered the History of Modern Israel course taught by Israeli historian Dr. Avi Shilon, according to a Tuesday statement from interim President Katrina Armstrong.
The keffiyeh-clad activists said they were protesting the “normalization of genocide,” in an Instagram video published by Shilon on Wednesday. As a protester read a speech to a cameraperson about the Israel-Hamas War in Gaza, other activists distributed anti-Israel flyers.
One flyer, calling to “crush Zionism,” depicted a boot stepping on a broken Star of David, according to an X/Twitter account calling itself Columbia Jewish and Israeli Students. Another poster urged to “burn Zionism to the ground,” accompanied by a drawing of a masked man carrying a burning Israeli flag.
Other posters declared “This is for Hind [Rajab],” according to Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition’s social media posts, invoking the name of a girl killed during the war who has become a rallying symbol for protesters.
Shilon welcomed the students to join the class or leave, according to the video he posted. Eventually, the historian ushered them out of the room.
“Free Palestine!” The activists shouted before finally departing.
Armstrong condemned the “violent imagery” of the flyers and the disruption of the class, which violates campus rules. Columbia/Barnard Hillel Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life executive director Brian Cohen said on X Tuesday that according to university rules it is forbidden to prevent the use of a university facility to interfere with normal campus function. Additionally, Cohen suggested that the protest may be a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Columbia said on Wednesday that it was expediting an investigation of the incident, including identification of the activists and disciplinary measures.
“Actions taken to disrupt our classrooms and our academic mission and to intimidate or harass our students are not acceptable and are an affront to every member of our university community,” said the school.
The Hillel branch welcomed the statement.
Security measures were modified to require university identification to access the Morningside campus, and the university deployed a public safety team and resources to “classes at increased risk for disruption.” Columbia Jewish and Israeli Students said on X that while it appreciated that the administration was taking the issue seriously, they expressed concern that classes relating to Judaism and Israel would require security. They posted a picture on social media of a guard sitting outside a course on Zionist thought.
The House Committee on Education and Workforce responded to the incident by warning on social media that the failures of universities to address antisemitism would not be tolerated by the administration of new President Donald Trump.
Retired Columbia University Prof. Katherine Franke, who left the university after an investigation found that she violated policy by stating she was concerned about ex-IDF soldiers becoming students and harassing Palestinian students, condemned the class disruption.
“I will defend students’ right to peaceful protest, but not disturbing classes and hate speech,” Franke said on X.
The American Jewish Committee said on social media that the protest was completely unacceptable and called for immediate action by the university. The New York and New Jersey branch of the Anti-Defamation League said it was “disheartening” that students were unable to learn “without disruption and intimidation.”
“Freedom to protest doesn’t mean freedom to disrupt class and stop others from learning, nor does it mean freedom to engage in bigoted harassment and intimidation,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said on X.
The Israeli Embassy responded to the content of the flyers, dismissing their destructive aspirations as futile and writing, “Let them hand out all the flyers. We’re not going anywhere.”
CUAD defended the activists, attacking Shilon as a former IDF soldier who didn’t want to accurately portray a modern Israel because the class didn’t include the supposed genocide of “400,000 Palestinians” and “the violent settler colonialism and occupation of Palestine.”
“This class is a gross rewriting of Palestinian history. Classes like this meant to erase Palestinian past and presents is inherently violent and inherently normalizing. We will never recognize the zionist entity,” CUAD wrote on X.
“Every single university in Gaza has been destroyed. As long as there are classes and functions [at] Columbia that support and rewrite the genocide, occupation, and settler colonialism of Palestine – we will continue to disrupt!”
CUAD organized protests and lectures on Tuesday in an effort to “disrupt all university function and erode its elite reputation until Columbia divests” from institutions connected to Israel and Israelis.
The protests also sought to pressure the administration to dismiss disciplinary charges for dozens of students who participated in the occupation of campus buildings in April.
Danielle Greyman-Kennard contributed to this report.