But protesting the “illegal occupation” of Gaza by taking over a school campus is also an illegal occupation
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It’s a university in New York City, of course. It’s also a place that we’ve been hearing a lot about in recent days. It’s symbol of sorts, now.
It’s also 36 square acres of hate.
Listen to Khymani James, one of the leaders of the group that has effectively seized control of Columbia University’s campus, in a video he filmed and promoted: “Zionists don’t deserve to live comfortably, let alone Zionists don’t deserve to live. The same way we are very comfortable accepting Nazis don’t deserve to live, fascists don’t deserve to live, racists don’t deserve to live, Zionists, they shouldn’t live in this world.”
He went on: “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
Over at New York University, a short taxi ride away, some students were interviewed saying they “really don’t know” why they are protesting. (Give NYU students points for honesty, if not actual education.)
NEW: Pro-Palestine protester has no clue why she is protesting and then asks a friend why they are protesting who also has no clue.
Remarkable.
Reporter: "Why are you protesting?"
Protester: "Demanding that NYU stops! I honestly don't know what NYU is doing... Do you know what… pic.twitter.com/cI46n6YNht
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Since April 17, Khymani James and hundreds of others – some students, some not – have occupied the lawn in front of Butler Library, in the middle of Columbia U. They’ve set up identical tents tents – same size, shape, colour, and who bought them for a bunch of typically-penniless undergrads, no one knows – and they are living there. They’ve got Palestinian flags and banners that state, “COLUMBIA FUNDS GENOCIDE.”
What Columbia’s Israel-haters are doing has spread to other universities in the U.S.: Emerson College, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, New York University, Ohio State, Yale, Princeton, Emory, and many more.
Similar things have happened at Canadian universities, like McGill, York, McMaster, Western, Concordia, U of T and more.
The occupation at Columbia U has attracted the most attention, however, because it’s spurred arrests and violence and confrontations – one Jewish professor, Shai David, has actually been denied access to campus because he’s a Jew – and, probably, because it’s close to many major American news organizations. It’s been ugly.
This Colombia “student” calling the other students to be a “martyr”!
Nice education!
👉Iraqi 🇮🇶 stand with Israel 🇮🇱
עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/OcJ7Qzi408
That ugliness has been made worse by outsiders. The New York Post reported Friday that hard-Left interests – such as the George Soros-funded Students for Justice in Palestine, and the Campaign for Palestinian Rights – have funded student “protesters” with significant amounts, much of it run through non-profits.
The Post reported that a campus-based “fellow” can receive up to CDN$5,000 a week for devoting eight hours to “organizing campaigns led by Palestinian organizations.”
The funding is not just happening in the U.S., either. As this reporter revealed in January, a B.C. organization called the Plenty Collective disbursed as much as $20,000 a month to those who came to anti-Israel protests in the Victoria area.
So, that’s what the students are doing at places like Columbia, and how many of them are getting paid to protest. But what is the objective? What do they want?
A document provided to this writer provides some answers. Previously unseen in Canada, the document has been published by a shadowy group that refers to itself as “Ill Will.” The manual, written by “Anonymous,” is titled “First We Take Columbia.” (Which they have.)
Key excerpts from the manual, which they have also made available in French, Spanish, Turkish, Japanese and Chinese:
– “Occupations are effective because they are disruptive.”
– “An occupation needs to spread in order to survive. New buildings need to be taken on campus, throughout the city, and across the country. Take the enemy by surprise.”
– “Every occupation is a commune. By shutting down the normal flows of capitalist society, they open up space for something new to emerge.”
– “Occupations draw strength from the spectre of a riot.”
– “Students from other campuses, residents of the surrounding neighborhood, and outside agitators need to be welcomed in… The NYPD stood down (in the past) out of fear that violence might otherwise erupt. Similar tactics might be necessary today.”
– “This is only the beginning. A number of revolutionary organizations emerged from the 1968 occupations movement. Pushing the university struggle to its limit might contribute in a similar way to producing a constellation of revolutionary forces in the city today.”
“All power to the communes,” the manual concludes, which seemingly takes inspiration from the April 1968 occupations at Columbia, when students and others seized five campus buildings and took the dean hostage, resulting in 700 arrests.
Hopefully the current anti-Israel occupations won’t go that far. But one thing is clear about the Columbia students and others, and their opposition to the “illegal occupation” of Gaza.
Their occupations? They’re illegal, too.
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