University condemns disruption of History of Modern Israel class

A group of protesters interrupted the first session of the History of Modern Israel class on Tuesday amid pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations during the first day of spring semester classes.

A video posted by the Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students account on X showed multiple individuals with keffiyehs entering the Fayerweather Hall classroom and one individual reading from a paper, saying, “We’re giving you an inside scoop on Columbia University’s normalization of genocide,” while another filmed them.

Protesters then began distributing flyers to the class. Pictures posted by the same account show images of the flyers, one depicting a boot stomping on the Star of David with the words “Crush Zionism” and another depicting an individual in a keffiyeh holding a burning Israeli flag with the words “Burn Zionism to the ground.”

In a statement to Spectator through a University spokesperson hours after the incident, Interim University President Katrina Armstrong denounced the disruption of the class and pledged to investigate the incident further.

Link to tweet

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UPDATE:

Columbia suspends affiliate for participation in disruption of History of Modern Israel class

Columbia has identified and suspended a University affiliate for participation in the Tuesday disruption of the History of Modern Israel class, according to a Thursday Columbia News statement.

“Columbia University has identified and suspended a Columbia participant, pending a full investigation and disciplinary process,” the statement read. The suspension will remain in effect until the University completes a “full investigation and disciplinary process.”

The University is still investigating the disruption and working on identifying the remaining three participants.

“Disruptions to our classrooms and our academic mission and efforts to intimidate or harass our students are not acceptable, are an affront to every member of our University community, and will not be tolerated,” the statement reads.

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