Anti-Israel demonstrators stage counter-protest to October 7 memorial on Columbia campus

An installation, Memory Lane: October 7th Art Installation, commemorating American citizens kidnapped by Hamas, was set up by pro-Israel organisers on the campus, featuring multiple 10-foot-tall milk cartons, each displaying the face of a hostage.

Photographs of murdered Kibbutz Nir Oz residents Judith Weinstein, 70, and her husband Gadi Haggai could be seen, alongside 22-year-old Omar Neutra, one of the 101 hostages who remain in captivity.

But by midday the campus was flooded with pro-Palestine demonstrators participating in a walkout staged by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD).

Protesters chanted “Intifada, people’s war”, “Free, free Palestine” and “Resistance is glorious, we will be victorious”.

Many had their faces obscured by keffiyehs as they left class to congregate on the steps of Low Memorial Library, before marching downtown to join a New York-wide demonstration organised by Within Our Lifetime (WOL).

Hundreds of students staged a walk-out of class and joined a pro-Palestine march across New York (Credit: FreedomNews.TV)[Missing Credit]

In an Instagram post publicising the walkout, CUAD instructed its followers to “attend in trusted groups, wear a mask, and bring noisemakers”.

Two pro-Israel counter demonstrations had been planned in anticipation of the pro-Palestine walkout.

Led by Columbia Faculty and Staff Supporting Israel (CFSSI), dozens of protesters gathered with Israeli and American flags in a “Columbia United Against Terror” protest on the west side of the plaza outside the library.

Pro-Israel staff and students gather at the Low Memorial Library of Columbia University to counter the pro-Palestine demonstration (Credit: Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students)[Missing Credit]

On the steps of the library, pro-Israel students made speeches about the nearly 400 young people who were massacred at last year’s Nova festival.

Meanwhile, Fight Jew Hate (FJH) and Shai Davidai, assistant professor at the Business School, organised a separate demonstration outside the university’s main gates at 116th Street and Broadway.

In an Instagram post, Davidai called on the "Jews of New York” to “rally for our victims and heroes and act against extremist groups attempting to hijack and seize control of our moment to remember”.

The public gathered with posters calling to bring the hostages abducted by Hamas home ((Credit: @MDiamond8)[Missing Credit]

About a hundred gathered outside the gates, with posters calling for the hostages held in Gaza to be returned home.

A pro-Israel counter-demonstration outside Columbia University's main gates (Credit: @MDiamond8)[Missing Credit]

Metal barricades and dividers and public safety officers filled the campus grounds as the university attempted to preserve order and safety on the day.

Previously shown outside the Democratic National Convention, Memory Lane: October 7th Art Installation was meant to offer a contemplative experience for Jewish staff and students, in the same location on campus as the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” last spring.

Many students were upset that the day of commemoration had been overshadowed by protest and counter-protest.

Abigail Fixel, president of the Columbia University chapter of Jewish on Campus, told the Times of Israel: “I stood there for almost an hour with my jaw on the floor. To see my peers, some of whom I’ve had intense discussions with this past year, walking around and chanting, is unbelievable. I just don’t see how that can anything but a celebration of what happened on October 7.”

Davidai, who organised one of the pro-Israel counter-demonstrations, said on X/Twitter: “Imagine hating someone so much that you won't even let them grieve. Not even one day. Not without a protests.”

David Lederer, a Jewish student studying financial engineering at Columbia, tweeted: “I had thought that maybe, just maybe, the names and faces of the October 7 victims would make pro-Hamas students think twice about celebrating the 1st anniversary of their murder…I was wrong. Either they do not see Jews and Israelis as human or they have lost their own humanity.”

On October 7, the CUAD Instagram account posted the infamous photograph of Aziz Salha, a Palestinian man, waving his bloody hands out of the police station window after taking part in the lynching of two IDF soldiers in Ramallah in 2000.

The caption read: “Just last night, Palestinian resistance fighters escalated for their liberation — resisting through over a hundred years of zionist aggression and a year of the most intense bombardment the world has seen.”

The group also praised the killing of seven civilians in Tel Aviv on October 1, referring to the shooting and knife attack as “bold” and a “significant act of resistance” in a Substack post from October 3.

Columbia University sophomore Noah Lederman, who turned up to campus wearing an “AE Pi Stands With Israel” t-shirt and Israeli flag, told the Times of Israel: “This is a day of mourning. It’s distasteful. It’s hateful. It’s morally reprehensible.

“To see such a display of hate today, it’s morally corrupt. I can’t fathom the kind of person who does this. It’s not about free speech, this is a celebration of terror.”

In a statement on October 6, interim president Katrina Armstrong of Columbia University said that the pro-Palestine walkout was not officially sanctioned by the institution.

“This walkout was not registered through the process established by the Guidelines to the Rules of University Conduct and thus is not sanctioned by the University Senate or the University administration,” she said.

Armstrong said guest permits to the campus would be restricted on October 6, 7 and possibly later into the week.

“We will be increasing the public safety presence across campus for the next three days. We are all eager to get back to an environment where that is not needed and appreciate the challenges that widespread public safety presence can create for our community and the wellbeing of individuals within that community,” the statement read.