Anti-Israel agitators disrupting an Israeli history class at Columbia University, New York City, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: Screenshot

Masked anti-Israel protesters interrupted a class titled “History of Modern Israel” on the first day of the new semester at Columbia University on Tuesday.

The anti-Israel agitators entered the room, disrupting the class, and handed out flyers showing a leather boot stomping on a Star of David, shattering it, with the words “Crush Zionism” in all capital letters. Another poster depicted a keffiyeh-clad, masked man holding an Israeli flag on fire.

On the first day of classes, anti-Israel protestors interrupted @Columbia’s “History of Modern Israel” class and handed out flyers showing a boot crushing a Star of David. Columbia is out of control. And to be clear, there is no “academic freedom” to disrupt classes. pic.twitter.com/n0x9d0AxHw

— Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students ✡️🇮🇱 (@CUJewsIsraelis) January 21, 2025

After video of the incident and pictures of the fliers began to circulate on social media, the university responded.

“We strongly condemn this disruption, as well as the fliers that included violent imagery that is unacceptable on our campus and in our community,” Columbia University Interim President Katrina Armstrong said in a statement. “No group of students has a right to disrupt another group of students in a Columbia classroom.”

The statement continued, “Disrupting academic activities constitutes a violation of the Rules of University conduct and the nature of the disruption may constitute violations of other university policies.”

The president pledged to “move quickly to investigate and address this act” and emphasized that “any act of antisemitism, or other form of discrimination, harassment, or intimidation against members of our community is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

January 21, 2025 Statement From Interim President Katrina Armstrong on Class Disruption: https://t.co/SujD4x59yU pic.twitter.com/Y9uQVX1Zgv

— Columbia University (@Columbia) January 22, 2025

The Columbia University/Barnard College Hillel replied to the university’s message, writing that it is “grateful for this strong statement.”

However, it also argued that Columbia “must now identify the students who disrupted the class with hateful flyers and hold them accountable for their violations of university policies.”

The Columbia Jewish Alumni Association said that while the statement, which was posted to social media, may be an improvement for the administration, “we need action not words.”

Specifically, it argued the university should ban masking. “Show you mean business,” it wrote, “by doing this ONE THING [sic] that will transform campus by introducing real accountability.”

Over the past year, Columbia has been at the center of campus controversies related to Israel and its war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. It was the home of the first anti-Israel encampment last spring, which took off to become a national trend.

The Algemeiner documented dozens of instances of explicit support for terrorism within only a couple days of the encampment beginning.

Additionally, Khymani James, a Columbia student and reportedly one of the organizers of the encampment, was on video last year saying “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and proclaiming that people should “be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”

He also said, “I don’t fight to injure or for there to be a winner or a loser, I fight to kill.”

In defense of James, major anti-Israel organizations at Columbia — Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) and Columbia Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) — later wrote on social media that “violence is the only path forward.”

It continued, “We are proud to be a part of the fight for the liberation of all oppressed peoples.”