New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday warned that the New York City Police Department “cannot have a presence” at Columbia College’s campus “unless specifically requested by senior university officials,” decrying “professional agitators” and “antisemitism being spewed” on the Ivy League Faculty.
“I am horrified and disgusted with the antisemitism being spewed at and around the Columbia University campus,” Adams mentioned, citing the instance of a younger girl holding an indication with an arrow pointing to Jewish college students stating “Al-Qasam’s Next Targets.”
The Al-Qassam Brigade is the army wing of Hamas.
The mayor famous one other occasion the place a lady is actually yelling “We are Hamas,” and one other the place teams of scholars are chanting “We don’t want no Zionists here.”
“I condemn this hate speech in the strongest of terms. Supporting a terrorist organization that aims to kill Jews is sickening and despicable. As I have repeatedly said, hate has no place in our city, and I have instructed the NYPD to investigate any violation of law that is reported. Rest assured, the NYPD will not hesitate to arrest anyone who is found to be breaking the law,” Adams continued. “We will not be a city of lawlessness, and those professional agitators seeking to seize the ongoing conflict in the Middle East to sow chaos and division in our city will not succeed.”
Adams particularly mentioned, “I do, however, want to be abundantly clear: Columbia University is a private institution on private property, which means the NYPD cannot have a presence on campus unless specifically requested by senior university officials. The NYPD has an increased presence of officers situated around the campus to protect students and all New Yorkers on nearby public streets, and they stand ready to respond if another request is made by the university, as they did on Thursday, when the NYPD successfully cleared encampments on Columbia’s South Lawn without any injuries.”
New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams attends a memorial for the thirtieth anniversary of the killing of a Jewish teenager on the Brooklyn Bridge on March 1, 2024. (Spencer Platt/Getty Photos)
The mayor’s assertion got here hours earlier than Columbia College President Dr. Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, who was hauled earlier than Congress to handle the varsity’s inaction on antisemitism, broke her silence in a single day. Shafik canceled lessons on Monday, calling for a “reset” as “tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas.”
As a substitute of bringing in police to disperse the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” that has continued for days on the South Garden, Shafik promised a “working group of Deans, university administrators and faculty members will try to bring this crisis to a resolution” within the coming days, together with by means of “continuing discussions with the student protestors and identifying actions we can take as a community to enable us to peacefully complete the term and return to respectful engagement with each other.”
Anti-Israel agitators resume demonstrations at Columbia College on the fifth day of “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on April 21, 2024. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu through Getty Photos)
“I know that there is much debate about whether or not we should use the police on campus, and I am happy to engage in those discussions,” Shafik mentioned. “But I do know that better adherence to our rules and effective enforcement mechanisms would obviate the need for relying on anyone else to keep our community safe. We should be able to do this ourselves.”
GOP CONGRESSWOMAN DEMANDS COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ‘RESTORE ORDER AND SAFETY’ AMID ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS
Earlier than the beginning of Passover on Monday, Columbia and Barnard faculty’s rabbi warned Jewish college students to return to their houses, as Columbia College’s Public Security and the NYPD “cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy.”
Columbia College President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik testifies earlier than the Home Committee on Training and the Workforce on April 17, 2024. (Alex Wong/Getty Photos)
Adams on Sunday additionally urged Columbia’s senior administration officers “to improve and maintain an open line of communication with the NYPD to ensure the safety of all students and staff on campus, as well as for the safety of all New Yorkers.” The mayor acknowledged how “the conflict in the Middle East has left many of us grieving and angry,” and whereas New Yorkers “have every right to express their sorrow,” however that “heartbreak does not give anyone the right to harass or threaten others or to physically harm someone they disagree with.”
“As mayor of the city with the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel, the pain these protests are causing Jews across the globe is not lost on me, especially as we start Passover tomorrow evening. I also see and hear the pain of those protesting in support of innocent lives being lost in Gaza,” Adams mentioned. “In this moment of heightened tension around the world, we stand united against hate.”
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Home Republican Convention Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., led the cost on Sunday in demanding Shafik’s resignation over college management having “clearly lost control of its campus.”
Shafik allowed the NYPD to return onto campus and arrest greater than 100 folks on Thursday, the day after her congressional testimony, however they’ve since been launched from custody and the protest escalated.
