Columbia student on ‘disgusting, disgraceful’ anti-Israel campus demonstrations: 'Jews don't feel safe'
Columbia student Xavier Westergaard shares how he feels about returning to class for new semester amid a growing anti-Israel protest on campus.
Fox News' "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.
IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
- Jewish students describe going to college amid intense anti-Israeli protests: ‘Target on my back'
- GOP leaders vow 'action' as Columbia University swarmed by anti-Israel agitators
- Meta declares anti-Israel rallying call 'from the river to the sea' is not hate speech
TOP STORY: Jewish college students told Fox News about their experiences going to school where some of the most intense anti-Israel demonstrations in the country are occurring. Shoshana Aufzien, Eliana Birman, and Aryeh Krischer appeared on "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday to express their horror and shock at the raucous anti-Israel protests that have taken over Columbia University and Barnard College in New York City throughout the last academic year and the beginning of this one.
VIDEO: Masked anti-Israel protesters demonstrated on Tuesday outside of one of the entrances to Columbia University, chanting, "Free Palestine!" and holding signs urging the Ivy League school to "divest from death" as students are trying to get to their first day of classes. The demonstrations came just days after Hamas killed six hostages, including 23-year-old Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Hamas had been holding them captive – and continues to hold nearly 100 others – since they carried out terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
HOUSE GOP VOWS ACTION: House Republican leaders are vowing to push back on anti-Israel protests that are once again taking over college campuses as students return for the fall semester. It comes as activists have already begun defacing property and staging demonstrations at Columbia University in New York City, which was a hotbed of controversial activity in the spring. "There should be a zero tolerance policy for antisemitic violence on campus that targets Jewish students. If universities won’t hold protesters accountable, Congress will," Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital.
PHRASE THAT SLAYS: The oversight board for Facebook's parent company declared that the anti-Israel slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" is not hate speech. Meta's board made the announcement on its official website on Wednesday, arguing that certain uses of the slogan can express "solidarity with Palestinians" without "calling for violence or exclusion."
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Walking through campus, I notice fliers being handed out to visibly Jewish students – basically, fliers telling them that they're complicit in genocide. And I just feel like there's a target on my back simply for being Jewish." - Barnard College fresman Eliana Birman.
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