RUTHFULLY YOURS

Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, spoke to a crowd of 300 at Columbia University Monday night, hosted by the Columbia University chapter of Students Supporting Israel.  A large anti-Israel crowd outside Lerner Hall protested the event.

The groups Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Barnard Columbia Socialists, and Columbia Against Trump coordinated the protest on the Facebook page “Racists Not Welcome: Protest the Israeli Ambassador at Columbia.”  Reasons given to protest Danon included his desire to “annex the West Bank” and his “abandoning even the pretence [sic] of the ‘two-state solution.'”  They also accused Danon of being “a cheerleader for Trump and the Republican fight” and alleged that “from racist walls to repressive border policing, Trump copies Israel.”  And that “Danon is the official representative of a state born, like America, through savage ethnic cleansing” and that “his is a state that has besieged and bombed the Palestinian people since its inception.”

The protesters outside Lerner Hall shouted slogans such as:

“Stop your murder, stop your hate; Israel is an apartheid state!”

“No peace on stolen land!  Justice is our demand!”

“Danny Danon, you can’t hide; we charge you with genocide.”

…proving that at least an education at Columbia University ensures the ability to chant protest slogans that rhyme.

And although security tried to keep the protesters outside, about 100 made their way into Lerner Hall and disrupted Danon’s speech, chanting:

“Palestine, we’ll be free, from the river to the sea!”

“Israel is a terrorist state!”

“Israel has no right to exist!”

Not deterred by the protesters, Danon succinctly stated, “The age of Jews sitting quietly is over.”  He proved that to be true as he went on to say, “We will not be quiet in the face of the lies that you spread about Israel.  We will continue to make our voice heard and will continue to insist on our righteous truth.”

Before the hall could be cleared of the protesters, Danon suggested to them, “Instead of inciting and lying, sit down in the seats – and maybe you will learn something.”

He continued: “This is precisely the problem of the Palestinians.  They lie, incite, and don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist.  But I have an announcement for those students.  The people of Israel will never leave the land of Israel.”

In the past, Columbia University has been ranked at the top of the list as the university with the “worst antisemitic activity in the United States,” according to the David Horowitz Freedom Center.  Other universities at the top include Cornell University, George Mason University, and San Diego State University.  The planned protest at Columbia University is a preview of what we can expect to see across college campuses and across the world in a few weeks, when BDS activists will be in full stride, during Israel Apartheid week.  It will be a time when anti-Israel, anti-Semitic activity gives new meaning to March madness.