Follow the Money: How Israel-Linked Billionaires Silenced US Campus Protests
MintPress NewsMAY 31 2024
Columbia Suspends Deans Over 'Antisemitic Tropes'
Above: Israeli counter-protesters demonstrate during a pro-Palestinian rally near Columbia University in New York City. Image copyright: John Lamparski/Contributor/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Spin
Narrative A
This is the least Columbia can do given its horrendous lack of action following Oct. 7. Columbia responded to the attack by allowing pro-Hamas students and professors to get away with both verbal and physical abuse against Jewish students and faculty, leaving students hidden in their dorms and professors fearing for their safety at home and in class. Faculty are supposed to protect students, but many chose instead to cater to the violent mob over the Jewish community.
Narrative B
Universities have an obligation to call out vile rhetoric aimed at Jews, but to pretend that Jewish students at elite US institutions are oppressed is nonsensical. As for referencing the pro-Israel donor class, American billionaires threatened to withhold millions of dollars in donations if schools didn't crack down on pro-Palestine protests, to which these universities quickly obliged. Disagreeing with Zionism and critiquing the overwhelming financial support behind the movement doesn't equate to antisemitism.