Former US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on February 9, 2024, speaking at Columbia University. Photo: Screenshot

Pro-Hamas demonstrators threatened and heckled former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Columbia University this past Friday.

Clinton, a staunch defender of Israel, was speaking at an event, titled “Preventing and Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence” and held by the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), when a male heckler rose from his seat and screamed her name.

“Hilary Diane Rodham Clinton!,” he bayed. “You are a war criminal! The people of Libya! The people of Iraq! The people of Syria! The people of Yemen and the people now of Palestine!”

Clinton, responding with a grin, said, “That’s my name, correct,” and proceeded to open a folder containing her written remarks.

Keren Yarhi-Milo, SIPA Dean, and Adlai E. Stevenson, professor of international relations, intervened to restore order. Earlier in the event, she discussed Hamas’ atrocious raping of Israeli women during the terrorist group’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7.

“Sir, sir, I am going to ask you to leave right now,” Yarhi-Milo said. “I’m asking you to leave, the delegates will now escort you out of the building.”

“You will burn!! Free, free, Palestine!,” he continued. “Free, free Palestine!”

Clinton again attempted to continue — “Let me thank all of you for coming, because this is such an important subject… And yelling doesn’t solve the problem.”

As one heckler was escorted out of the event, another interrupted Clinton. While only fragments of her statements could be picked up on the microphone: “You want to talk about Libya!…before being murdered…that you supported as Secretary of State!” She also appeared to accuse Clinton of being a war criminal.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield endured more interruptions after taking the stage, with one heckler screaming, “Linda, how dare you!” When Thomas-Greenfield continued attempting to speak, a chorus of pro-Hamas supporters began chanting, “Free, free, Palestine” in call and response.

Pro-Hamas supporters at Columbia University have been waging a campaign of intimidation and harassment in recent months against pro-Israel students and faculty. Despite the university’s numerous attempts to enforce compliance with the code of conduct, including suspending Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), they have continued to misbehave and lash out at anyone who denounces their support for Hamas.

Recently, an anonymous group of graduate students accused a vocal pro-Israel professor, Shai Davidai, of anti-Palestinian racism and demanded that a professional association of which he is a member publicly censure him.

Accusing Davidai of “targeting individuals — especially Palestinians and students of color,” the students’ letter describes his efforts to hold pro-Hamas student groups accountable for harassing Jewish students and defending terror as “decolonization” as “blatant dereliction of duty with respect to his responsibilities and ethical standards as a professor and faculty member of SPSP.”

The students additionally accused him of promoting “doxxing” and “misrepresenting” the views of pro-Hamas groups, all of whom have defended Hamas’ atrocities on Oct. 7 while calling for a ceasefire, a strategy they have employed to portray themselves as a pro-peace movement.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.