Jewish students at Columbia University applauded the removal of anti-Israel protesters who were camping out in tents on campus Thursday – claiming the unruly demonstration made them fear for their safety.
“It makes me feel safer. It makes me feel like the administration is finally implementing their policies and the truth is, today of all days, it looks like everyone who supports their cause — the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas cause — came out of the crevices and it’s a lot of people,” sophomore Jonny Lederer told The Post.
Cops decked out in riot gear moved in and arrested more than 100 protesters Thursday after Columbia president Minouche Shafik gave the green light for cops to clear the encampment from the Upper West Side campus. Some of the arrested protesters even had to be carried away to waiting NYPD corrections buses.
Lederer said some of the protesters berated cops as the tense situation unfolded.
“You need the police. The police were very peaceful,” he said. “They simply asked them, ‘Are you going to leave?’ They said no, and the individuals in the encampment wanted to make a statement … so be it. The cops said ‘You are going to be arrested’ and they said ‘OK’. They took them and detained them and removed them from the campus.
“It wasn’t violent, but it was a show that rules are being enforced and that’s necessary. Otherwise, without rules being enforced it’s chaos.”
Eden Yadegar, a Jewish Barnard College student, said the encampment “absolutely” led to more fear for Jewish students.
“What alarms me most is that antisemitism and anarchy have been allowed to fester at Columbia for so many months now that something like this even happened in the first place,” she said.
“The action taken by our leadership today was, unfortunately, an absolutely necessary one. But the most frightening part is the fact that it had to be taken in the first place,” Yadeger added.
Tyler Korff, a 2008 Columbia grad and co-founder of Columbia Jewish Alumni Association, said he commended the university and NYPD for clamping down on the unauthorized protest.
“These protests and rallies are meant to threaten and intimidate students, and the message today should be very clear: enough is enough,” he said.
Korff called the protests “antisemitic” and “anti-American.”
“They are disruptive to the entire community, and they endanger the safety of everyone,” Korff stated. “We look forward to Columbia taking similar action wherever and whenever these unauthorized protests take place.”
Another student, who didn’t want to give his name, asked, “How can you learn when you have to watch your back?”
“We pay a lot of money to come here and we should feel safe and protected,” the 20-year-old pupil stated.
