Rabbi Eli Buechler is the director of OU-JLIC Columbia/Barnard. He has urged students to leave the campus and return home because of increasing threats of anti-Jewish violent acts by pro-Hamas provocation on the campus.

This comes after Jewish students at Columbia University and their Chabad rabbi were forced to leave campus on Motzei Shabbat for their own safety, during a pro Hamas demonstration. The protesters who had set up 60 tents in the campus on Wednesday chanted anti Israel slogans and threatened to harm Jewish students.

Video footage on social media shows the protesters trying to break the campus gate. They chanted “Break da Lock,” “Someone torches it,” and “Pick The Lock.” They also shouted, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” and, “There’s only one solution: Intifada Revolution.”

They called them “Al-Qassam’s next targets”, referring to Hamas’ military wing. One protester shouted “Remember 7th October!” in reference to the Hamas murder of October 7, and threatened it would be repeated “10,000 times.”

The Columbia Jewish Alumni Association sent a letter to Minouche Shafik University President, warning him that the protests would create an unsafe environment for Jewish Students and that violence could occur. Shafik was urged to “take all possible steps to ensure Jewish safety.”

The university has been heavily criticized for its handling the situation. The issue was raised at a congressional hearing held on Wednesday. Several congressmen criticized the university for continuing to allow professors who had celebrated the attack of October 7, 2001, to teach.

The university says it balances free speech, the right to demonstrate and the need to ensure the safety of Jewish students. It is clear to all that there needs to be more done to combat antisemitism in the campus environment.