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A bunch of Jewish college students at Columbia College have launched an open letter describing their discomfort with the continued tensions on campus.
The letter, titled “In Our Title: A Message from Jewish College students at Columbia College,” was signed and shared by a coalition of Jewish college students with out attribution to a selected campus group.
“Over the previous six months, many have spoken in our identify. Some are well-meaning alumni or non-affiliates who present as much as wave the Israeli flag exterior Columbia’s gates. Some are politicians wanting to make use of our experiences to foment America’s tradition conflict,” the letter reads. “Most notably, some are our Jewish friends who tokenize themselves by claiming to characterize ‘actual Jewish values,’ and try to delegitimize our lived experiences of antisemitism.”
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New York Police Division officers detain dozens of pro-Palestinian college students at Columbia College after they barricaded themselves on the Hamilton Corridor constructing close to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment in New York. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu through Getty Photographs)
“We’re focused for our perception that Israel, our ancestral and non secular homeland, has a proper to exist,” the scholars declare. “We’re focused by those that misuse the phrase Zionist as a sanitized slur for Jew, synonymous with racist, oppressive, or genocidal. We all know all too effectively that antisemitism is shapeshifting.”
The letter is explicitly Zionist and defends the views of like-minded college students on the Columbia campus, claiming the political disagreement over Israel’s existence has spilled into conflicts over Jewish identification itself.
“Many people aren’t religiously observant, but Zionism stays a pillar of our Jewish identities. We’ve got been kicked out of Russia, Libya, Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Poland, Egypt, Algeria, Germany, Iran, and the checklist goes on,” the letter reads.
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A Columbia pupil prays close to a wall lined in posters of hostages who stay in captivity after Hamas terrorists kidnapped them in a shock assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Michael Ruiz/Fox Information Digital)
The doc is signed by over 100 college students on the college and urges a de-escalation of ideological conflicts on campus — however rebukes calls for for people to desert Zionist views.
“We connect with Israel not solely as our ancestral homeland however as the one place within the fashionable world the place Jews can safely take possession of their very own future,” the signers mentioned. “Our experiences at Columbia within the final six months are a poignant reminder of simply that.”
The letter was shared on-line by College students Supporting Israel President Eden Yadegar, Columbia Political Overview Senior Editor Elisha Baker and others.
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Professional-Palestinian college students lock arms, sing and chant as they brace for New York Police Division officers to raid the Columbia College campus after Columbia President Minouche Shafik known as on the NYPD to dismantle encampments and take away people from Hamilton Corridor. (Seyma Bayram through AP)
The letter ends with a name for peace and a name for constructive dialogue to interchange the more and more violent campus protests nonetheless raging at schools throughout the nation.
“We got here to Columbia as a result of we needed to increase our minds and have interaction in complicated conversations. Whereas campus could also be riddled with hateful rhetoric and simplistic binaries now, it’s by no means too late to begin repairing the fractures and start creating significant relationships throughout political and non secular divides,” the letter concludes. “Our custom tells us, ‘Love peace and pursue peace.’ We hope you’ll be a part of us in earnestly pursuing peace, reality, and empathy. Collectively we will restore our campus.”
Timothy Nerozzi is a author for Fox Information Digital. You’ll be able to comply with him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and may e-mail him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com
Jewish Columbia college students say ‘antisemitism is shapeshifting’ in open letter
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