AOC calls Columbia protests 'peaceful', despite rabbi warning Jewish students to stay home
During an Earth Day news conference, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., switched gears and called the student-led protests happening across college campuses across the country "peaceful."
"Today also serves as a reminder of the power of organizing, of what we can accomplish [when] young people, climate advocates, labor organizers and working people of all backgrounds come together to demand the future. We all deserve. It is especially important that we remember the power of young people shaping the country today," Ocasio-Cortez said.
"Of all days as we one once again witness the leadership of those peaceful student-led protests on campuses like Columbia, Yale, Berkeley and many others," Ocasio-Cortez continued.
Her message comes as the Orthodox rabbi at Columbia University and Barnard College sent a message recommending Jewish students leave campus and go home as anti-Israel agitators have continued an "encampment" on campus and participants were caught on camera sympathizing with the terrorist group Hamas.
"The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy," Buechler wrote. "It deeply pains me to say that I would strongly recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved."
Shai Davidai, a Jewish professor at Columbia who went viral in October for calling out the school’s inaction on antisemitism, demanded that the National Guard be brought in if the NYPD cannot take action.
"This is a hostile takeover of the university," he added. "It's a showdown of support for Hamas on one hand and Western civilization on the other hand. … The showdown is happening on Columbia's campus."
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Davidai said the demonstrations at Columbia "have never been about human rights."
"From the very first moment, these protests were about justifying rape as a means to a goal," he said, referencing the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack. "That is not about human rights."
Columbia University is one of many Ivy League schools, as well as other universities, experiencing a mass chaos of anti-Israel agitators taking over campuses.
Fox News' Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.