Over 200 People Join Pro-Palestinian Protest Near Columbia University

Photo : AP

Over 200 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside Columbia University in New York on Tuesday. They were protesting against Naftali Bennett, the former Israeli Prime Minister, who was there to give a speech. The protest happened after more than a year of both supporters of Israel and people against the attack on Gaza having protests on campus.

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A spokesperson for the Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition, one of the groups in the protest, said that hosting Bennett, who has been known for violence and discrimination, shows the university values some voices more than others.

Many of the protesters wore masks or traditional Palestinian keffiyehs and didn’t speak to reporters. Police were at the scene, making sure to separate the protest from a small group of pro-Israel counter-protesters. Everything remained peaceful.

This protest also came at a time when the Trump administration threatened to stop Columbia University’s federal funding. The government said that the university wasn’t doing enough to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitism during the protests. Trump posted on his social media, saying that any college allowing these protests would lose all federal funding. He added that people causing trouble would be sent back to their home countries or arrested. American students could be expelled or arrested depending on the situation.