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A student group from Columbia Law reportedly declared that no Jew is “safe” or “free” until Palestine is free.
In an email allegedly sent by Columbia Law’s National Lawyers Guild organization on Friday, the group condemned the school’s administration and the NYPD for clearing out Hamilton Hall after it was occupied by anti-Israel protesters.
Responding to Jewish critics, the group insisted that they did not speak for “all Jews” and argued Jewish safety cannot be assured until Palestine is “free.”
Columbia Law’s National Lawyers Guild chapter sent out a response to the arrests at Hamilton Hall last week. (Getty Images)
“To the Jewish students, faculty, and trustees blocking divestment and urging the violent crackdowns on campus: you threaten everyone’s safety. Yet you continue to claim to speak for all Jews. Keep our names out of your mouths. You, who called us ‘Judenrat,’ put us on lists of ‘bad Jews,’ and cheered the brutalization of our comrades, do not represent us,” the message read.
COLUMBIA CRACKS DOWN ON PROTESTERS, THREATENS SUSPENSION AS DEADLINE LOOMS
“While you repeatedly cried wolf with claims that anti-Zionist speech was antisemitic, which diluted the very real instances of antisemitism, we shared uplifting, welcoming Shabbat services in the Gaza solidarity Encampment. While you threatened doxxing and disciplinary actions, we found community in the encampment and imagined a more just world,” the email continued. “Our safety cannot be predicated on the oppression of others, whether campus protesters or Palestinians. No Jew is safe until everyone is safe, and no Jew is free until Palestine is free.”
The group also pushed back against concerns over the safety of Jewish students and faculty, claiming that they are only being used as a “pretext for Columbia’s violence.”
“We have repeated to the point of exhaustion that the protection of Jewish students and faculty is a dangerous, flimsy pretext for Columbia’s violence. By now, it is abundantly clear that this excuse is a gross perversion of the truth. This excuse has been weaponized by white Christian nationalists, including those in Congress, whose main motivations are dismantling diversity initiatives and promoting a Jewish majority in Israel to initiate the rapture.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Columbia Law and its National Lawyers Guild chapter for a comment.
According to the New York chapter for the National Lawyer’s Guild’s website, its mission is “to provide fellowship for those who seek excellence in the practice of law and who embrace a radical vision of economic, social and environmental justice. A core tenet of our practice is to provide mass defense to these movements and to victims of police repression.”
In response to the message, Conference of European RabbisPresident Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt told Fox News Digital, “It is reckless for Columbia Law’s National Lawyers Guild group to throw around words such as safety and freedom when the message they are communicating directly threatens the safety and freedom of Jewish students on campus, and more broadly, all Jews across the United States and around the world.”
The National Lawyers Guild shrugged off concerns over Jewish safety on campus. (REUTERS/David Dee Delgado)
He continued, “While I agree that Jews are not safe at Columbia or many other hundreds of campuses across the US, it is not for the reason cited in this letter, but rather, it is simply for the fact that our mere existence seems to pose an existential threat to the groups spewing hatred towards Jewish people. As someone who knows first-hand the power of words, I urge those writing letters such as this one to think twice before pressing send.”
Olami Executive Vice President Rabbi David Markowitz added, “What we have learned over the last couple of weeks is that Columbia University is ground zero of the violent campus protests across the US. When Columbia set up encampments other universities followed, when Columbia students and others stormed and occupied school buildings, other universities followed.””This latest statement from Columbia Law’s National Lawyers Guild chapter appears to be another escalation that we can expect to follow on other campuses. Escalating calls for the destruction of university property, and illegal encampments have now stepped up to direct threats. We need to learn the lessons of the last few months and stop this before it gets worse. There can be zero tolerance for threats, hatred or violence of any kind,” he concluded.
Approximately 300 people were arrested at Columbia and nearby City College on Tuesday night, with preliminary charges that ranged from trespassing to criminal mischief to burglary, according to police.
Many of the protesters in Hamilton Hall were not students at the university, but outside agitators, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard told “Your World Cavuto” on Thursday.
Hundreds of student and outside protesters were arrested at Columbia over the past few days. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“They are professionals,” he said. “They may just fly in for a day or two and leave. You’ll see them traveling around the country, and they have funding.”
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Fox News’ Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.
Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to lindsay.kornick@fox.com and on Twitter: @lmkornick.
