Posted on 01/30/25
| News Source: JPost
Two Columbia University schools were vandalized by anti-Israel activists on Wednesday afternoon, according to the institution and activist groups, with cement flushed down toilets and a building facade sprayed with red paint.
In a video and manifesto supposedly anonymously submitted to activist group Unity of Fields by vandals, the alleged perpetrators revealed that they flushed concrete down the toilets in Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs to cement “the sewage lines of the entire building, forcing them to shut down business-as-usual.”
The facilities were vandalized with graffiti that included “disturbing, personal attacks,” according to Columbia.
“Keren eat Wiener,” was graffitied with a stencil according to a video published on social media by Unity of Field, formerly known as Palestine Action US.
The accompanying manifesto claimed that it had attacked the school because it had expelled an anti-Israel student activist. The vandals mentioned the school’s dean and former IDF intelligence soldier Keren Yarhi-Milo as a “killer.”
The vandals also blamed New York Police Department Intelligence and Counterterrorism Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Weiner, who according to her LinkedIn is also adjunct assistant professor at the school, for the clearing of the April activist occupation of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall.
The university responded in a Wednesday statement saying “acts of vandalism of University buildings and property and attempts to harass and intimidate members of our community are unacceptable and abhorrent and will not be tolerated at Columbia.”
Other graffiti proclaimed “Hind called, we must answer,” referencing Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl killed during the war against Hamas in Gaza. The manifesto claimed that they had conducted the attack on the anniversary of her death.
“Inspired by Hind, and the bravery of every Palestinian child who has faced down Israeli genocide for the last century -- whether they threw a Molotov at a checkpoint, a rock at a tank, or made a call for help,” the vandals allegedly said. “So long as they resist, so must we.”
The entrance of the Columbia School of Business was painted with red pant, according to the Public Affairs Office. The manifesto claimed that the activists had targeted the school because it was engaged in “violent gentrification projects into Harlem” and because one of its 11 global centers included Tel Aviv.
The video shared by Unity of Fields called for the fall of Columbia and rise of Gaza, urging others not to fear arrest, suspension, or expulsion and to join them in taking action.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of activists and groups that have been on the forefront of anti-Israel activism on the campus, also shared the vandalism video on Instagram. CUAD held a vigil in Rajab’s memory outside the campus gates on Wednesday, “so that Columbia may never forget its crimes against Hind and all Palestinian martyrs.”
On Tuesday, the university announced that a graduate students teaching assistant had inserted their political views into an Astronomy class session. According to the group Columbia University Jews and Israelis, a lab handbook included a section on “astronomy in Palestine” which detailed how it was important to understand the privilege of being able to engage in astronomy without “being caught up in an airstrike.”
“As we watch the genocide unfold in Gaza, it is also important to tell the story of Palestinians outside of being the subjects of a military occupation,” read the document, requested students read the articles “Wonder and the Life of Palestinian Astronomy” and “In Gaza, Scanning the Sky for Stars, Not Drones” about how unmanned aerial vehicles and Israeli military operations interfere in the science in Gaza.
Columbia said that the inclusion of these items breached policy and apologized to the students enrolled in the class. The university assured that the violation was being addressed and new review procedures were being implemented.
Last Tuesday, masked activists entered the Columbia History of Modern Israel course taught by Israeli historian Dr. Avi Shilon and distributed flyers with violent imagery.
Two activists were barred from the campus on Monday, and last Thursday a student had been suspended pending an investigation and disciplinary process.