Actually, nothing really new at Columbia. New students arriving, classes start next week. Still tight security at the gates and the administration’s highest priority is to continue to ensure that no “antisemitic” protest of the war crimes going on in Gaza occurs on this campus. Some people here think this is great, some are appalled, most just don’t care.
I don’t think there’s anyone now unaware of the ongoing wholesale killing of innocents going on in Gaza as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign to drive the Palestinians from that land. The trustees and administration of Columbia know what is going on and have made their decision about their role in it.
In case you think this description of what is happening in Gaza is just the misguided opinion of one particular “antisemitic piece of shit”, here’s a clear explanation of what is going on from a New York Times commentator not known to be an “antisemitic piece of shit”:
I will leave it to historians to debate whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. But what is absolutely clear to me right now is that this Israeli government is committing suicide, homicide and fratricide.
It is destroying Israel’s standing in the world, it is killing Gazan civilians with seemingly no regard for innocent human life, and it is tearing apart Israeli society and world Jewry, between those Jews who want to still stand with Israel no matter what and those who can no longer tolerate, explain or justify where this Israeli government is taking the Jewish state and now want to distance themselves from it….
It is one thing for a country at war to justify collateral damage when going after the enemy’s top leaders. It is something entirely more sinister when you are killing and wounding dozens of civilians to try to kill, say, the deputy to the deputy commander.
It is also devious and sinister when you use your military to move hundreds of thousands of Gazan civilians from one part of Gaza to the other — under the guise of evacuating them from fighting zones — and then deliberately bulldoze the homes they left behind for no real military reason but with the clear ulterior motive of making life so miserable for them that they will leave the area entirely. And it is shameful when you stop and start humanitarian aid, with the hope that people will get hungry enough to leave.
But as I said, this is not just homicide pure and simple; it is also suicide and fratricide. Israel is now well on its way to making itself a pariah state.
Israel is losing allies on a daily basis now, as even the complicit media reports on the war crime du jour. The clock is ticking and if the NYT editorial page turns on the Netanyahu government then you know that they are on a slippery slope. This follows on the heels of Iowa City voting to boycott and divest from Israel and companies that support the war.
Of course the Columbia administration continues to congratulate itself on its recent deal with the government and on its steadfast support of the extremist Likud government. Or for the first time they seem to be unaware that they are out of step with public opinion.
In case you missed it, well known Republican Congresswoman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted this at the weekend, an eloquent distillation of what many feel.
https://x.com/RepMTG/status/1959240450088280116
Whch started a firestorm between her and Laura Loomer.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/marjorie-taylor-greene-issues-passionate-221315126.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueWFob28uY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAD59nEMtGkycqxyGCivcMT9mQDMa3_mgGwiuxkKr6sHRTCQ_H6EFnN-XF49Ve2540uKK9EI1-LsKneT2NMrAosOCj4FEXW-VDuS0N0v3TyrrDwlrJxkjgt_8YLBHEUDYfsObhyiwaD6C6feYWFkQy18NCug8nC9OR8427e8CIiDz
So this is where we are now. MTG stands with the students, and the people of Gaza, and Jewish Voices for Peace. Columbia admin is off stage, somewhere way off to the far right.
Columbia is now stranded on an island with Smotrich, Ben Gvir and Netanyahu. On Marco Rubio Island, perhaps, or floating in Loomer Lagoon, holding hands with Victor Mendelson and Shoshana Shendelman. The rest of the world is watching in horror.
The University is being run by a right wing junta that seized power in a coup, and we are all trapped in Crazy Town until they decide to leave, or we decide to throw them out.
If Thomas Friedman is right, then not only is Israel becoming a pariah (the UN and the global South have already declared this to be true) but Columbia University is one too.
The NYT commentator forget one important detail: all the horrific acts perpetrated against Gaza by the Israeli government are done with the tacit approval of the US government: this is the BIG SHAME!