Columbia Pro-Israel Students Start ‘Hebrew Liberation Week’
Image by Getty Images
After Columbia’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine hosted “Israel Apartheid Week,” pro-Israel students on campus have responded with “Hebrew Liberation Week” to cheer the Jewish state for its accomplishments.
“Jewish students on both the right and left are absolutely shocked and amazed that something like this is possible at our school,” Rudy Rochman, a leader of the Students Supporting Israel Group, told the Algemeiner, after pro-Palestinian activists erected a fake “apartheid wall” on campus. Rochman’s group hit back through its own installation right next to the apartheid wall – panels depicting positive aspects of Israel, including artwork featuring Israel Defense Forces soldiers.
Rochman said Hebrew Liberation Week has led to important conversation on campus. “At the end of the day, while we both might have different viewpoints, we agreed that… dialogue at Columbia might one day inspire peace in Jerusalem and Ramallah,” he said, describing an encounter with a Palestinian student.
Columbia, with its large populations of Jews and Muslims, has long been a flashpoint on Israel-Palestine, the issue dividing academic departments as well as undergraduates.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
