Jewish Columbia Students Recount Wild Library Takeover By Anti-israel Protesters

A Jewish Columbia University student alleged that he and his friends were shoved and he was elbowed successful nan ribs aft a convulsive anti-Israel mob took complete a room connected field Wednesday.

"It felt for illustration a stampede. My friends and I were shoved, it wasn’t clear if it was because we were Jewish, aliases it was conscionable a mob action. Later, erstwhile I was successful nan lobby of nan library, a protagonist of nan demonstrators walked past maine and elbowed maine successful nan ribs. It was surreal," a Columbia Ph.D. student primitively from Israel told Fox News Digital.

He said that nan objection wrong Columbia’s Butler Library – successful which hundreds of masked agitators swarmed nan building, pushing nationalist information officers arsenic they forced their measurement wrong – kept him stranded wrong for 3 hours successful an "extremely dispute environment" while he was trying to research. 

The Ph.D. student said that nationalist information officers were capable to put nan room connected lockdown aft 10 aliases 15 minutes, but that swarms of demonstrators attempted to push their measurement past them from some directions.

Protesters blanketed a array pinch fliers that glorified an alleged terrorist. (Fox News)

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"There’s this wide unreserved of group swept in, they were each wearing masks, nan keffiyehs came out, nan masks came out. There was a batch of shoving, nan mob wrong was really conscionable trying to ram done nan security," he told Fox News Digital. 

Eventually, nationalist information officials escorted him extracurricular nan main room of nan room into nan lobby. The student, who was wearing a yarmulke, claimed that astatine that clip a female walked past him and elbowed him successful nan ribs. 

The Ph.D. student told Fox News Digital that he was besides taxable to antisemitic verbal maltreatment by nan unruly mob, and that this was acold from nan first time. 

"I was called a genocider, I was called a perpetual victim. That was conscionable yesterday," he said.

Columbia acting president Claire Shipman condemned nan demonstration arsenic "utterly unacceptable." 

The rabble-rousers were seen putting stickers complete information cameras, vandalizing desks and bookshelves successful nan library, chanting, "Long unrecorded nan intifada!" and pounding connected drums and screaming done bullhorns arsenic disappointment undergrads attempted to study for their upcoming finals, according to students coming astatine nan time. 

The words "Columbia will pain 4 nan martyrs" were scrawled crossed a room show case, according to nan Columbia Jewish and Israeli Students social media account. 

Another societal media account showed a demonstrator yelling, "Don’t fto this feline in, he’s a f—king Zionist," erstwhile a Jewish student attempted to participate nan library. 

Protest stickers were put connected nan doors astatine Butler Library astatine Columbia University's field connected May 7, 2025 successful New York City. Anti-Israel protesters held a objection wrong nan Butler Library connected Columbia University’s campus, disrupting finals week. ( Indy Scholtens/Getty Images)

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"I was successful shock. I couldn’t judge what was happening," Columbia sophomore Josh Segal told Fox News Digital. 

Segal, who had conscionable near nan room to drawback a java erstwhile nan commotion started, said he heard demonstrators who were prevented from entering nan room chanting for Hamas’ Al Qassam brigades. The Al Qassam brigades are nan Hamas subject troops who perpetrated nan Oct. 7 violent onslaught which saw astir 1,200 group killed, thousands wounded and complete 250 kidnapped. 

"It was utter pandemonium. There were hundreds of students studying and doing work. Everyone was successful utter shock. The students who were doing activity were forced to leave," said Columbia elder Eden Yadegar.

"It’s finals, and I’m already acold behind. I couldn’t do activity nan full time because my worldly is stuck there. They chanted, ‘The worst terrorists are American imperialists.’ Personally, I deliberation Hamas is up there," Segal said. 

There were 80 arrests aft nan incident, constabulary sources told Fox News Digital, which Yadegar praised arsenic a "step successful nan correct direction" for nan university, which has go a lightning rod for antisemitism pursuing nan Oct. 7 violent attack.

Yadegar, who double fields successful Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies, claims nan protesters are misrepresenting their curen by nan nationalist information officers astatine nan scene.

New York City constabulary arrested dozens of Pro-Palestinian protesters connected Columbia University connected Wednesday evening aft they took complete portion of a cardinal room successful New York, USA connected May 7, 2025 (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

"The protesters are trying to rotation this communicative that they were brutalized by nationalist safety, that they held them hostage successful nan building. Public information did everything they could to support students safe, and encouraged them to time off nan building. All they had to do was show their IDs to leave. They refused to do that because they’re hiding their identities for illustration nan terrorists they dress up arsenic and emulate," she said.

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Yadegar said she hopes nan assemblage suspends aliases expels nan "violent, entitled, self-centered" demonstrators. 

"They’re disrupting nan university, they’re spewing vile antisemitic things. making a insult of a very existent war, and nan truth that there’s American hostages being held hostage by a violent organization," she said.