We, the Columbia Faculty and Staff Supporting Israel, a coalition of faculty and staff at Columbia dedicated to advocating for the rights of Jews, Israelis, and Zionists at Columbia University, write in response to the op-ed “Faculty and staff pledge to take back our University” by Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine.

Columbia is now under investigation by both the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, and is the subject of two lawsuits alleging antisemitism on campus. Over the last several months, we have experienced a stunning indifference by Columbia to ongoing physical attacks, bullying, and denigration of Jews, Israelis, and Zionists on campus. FSJP claim their “speech” causes mere “discomfort,” but their speech and action is discrimination and violence with no pedagogical value. Columbia is mandated by federal law to ensure equal access to all University services for Jews and Israelis, including those who identify as Zionists. In a statement on the University’s core values, Columbia proclaimed “our mission cannot succeed without a commitment to thoughtful, rigorous debate that respects our collective rights to learn, work, and live together, free of bigotry, intimidation, and harassment.” We find that these core values have been violated.

We, the Columbia Faculty and Staff Supporting Israel, declare that we will take back our university to make it an affirming, inclusive, and equal place for Jews, Israelis, and Zionists.

Thus, we demand that Columbia:

1. Affirm its commitment to freedom of speech and the right to PEACEABLE assembly. Unlike FSJP, which includes a photo in their op-ed demanding Columbia affirm “the right to assembly,” we explicitly believe in PEACEFUL assembly. Freedom of speech includes not silencing others’ speech. We ask for Columbia to equitably enforce its existing policies to stop the censorship of Jewish and Israeli voices on campus by holding affiliates accountable for screaming at, shouting down, disruptively walking out of, or blocking entry to events on campus. Our free speech will not be silenced by your mobs.

2. Stop confusing “free speech” with violence when it comes to Jews. FSJP claims “Pro-Palestinian students have been accused publicly by some University administrators of engaging in threatening and intimidating rhetoric, despite there being no real evidence for this.” There are actually now more than 130 pages of evidence presented in lawsuits and Congressional investigation documents. Here are just a few examples for FSJP’s reference:

· Physical assault: According to the Committee on Education and the Workforce’s investigation, “An Israeli Columbia student was beaten with a stick...” “A crowd of protestors moved toward the university’s Kraft Center for Jewish Life, causing the building to be locked down and Jewish students to shelter inside … a Jewish student … had an Israeli flag he was wearing torn off and thrown down a subway staircase.” “A Jewish Columbia undergraduate … was assaulted after leaving a pro-Israel counterprotest, being ‘slammed’ into and pinned against a building by an anti-Israel protester in a keffiyeh. …. Separately, the New York Police Department (NYPD) arrested three protesters and charged 12 with disorderly conduct.” According to a lawsuit filed by Columbia University students, Students Against Antisemitism, and StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice, “Jewish and Israeli students have been spat at, physically assaulted, threatened, and targeted on campus and social media with epithets such as ‘fuck the Jews,’ ‘death to Jews,’ ‘filthy Jew,’ and Nazi.”

· Blocking of physical access to campus spaces: According to the committee investigation, “Members of the Columbia Law Coalition for a Free Palestine occupied Columbia Law School’s lobby for nearly three hours in an anti-Israel protest in violation of multiple university policies.” “Columbia Social Workers 4 Palestine occupied the lobby of the School of Social Work Building with an unauthorized teach-in.” The lawsuit also details how mobs have blocked access to events and created a gauntlet to pass through to enter events.

· Vandalism: Vandalism and hate symbols include a swastika drawn in the International Affairs Building in October and a protest that, according to the Columbia-student filed lawsuit, “culminat[ed] in a blockade at the entrance of Butler Library, where they broke the glass of a library door.”

· Violent hate speech, harassment, and incitement: “An Israeli undergraduate who spoke in support of Israel … received numerous harassing phone calls and texts, including messages saying ‘YOURE [sic] THE TERRORIST,’ and ‘[h]ad fun with those crocodile tears bitch?’ There are multiple eyewitness cases of an individual screaming “fuck the Jews” at students wearing Star of David necklaces.

· Death threats: “posts on the anonymous messaging platform Sidechat … expressed hope that ‘any IDF veterans’ at Columbia ‘die a slow death,’ including a student currently serving in Gaza who was identified by name.” Protestors chanted, “there is no safe place, death to the Zionist state” and “and, in Arabic, ‘Jews out.’”

3. Follow the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, by ensuring no Jew or Israeli, including those who identify as Zionists, is blocked from participating in any campus activity, discriminated against, or discouraged from joining any group. Columbia groups have violated our civil rights: “Student group LionLez, which has since been derecognized, sent an email: ‘Zionists aren’t invited;’” “Columbia Law School’s Student Senate initially denied recognition to a proposed student organization called Law Students Against Antisemitism.” Although the group was eventually granted recognition, we ask why Jews have to prove their legitimacy in order to be recognized.

4. Ensure that faculty or staff are not violating federal law by providing material support for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or other terrorist organizations designated by the Secretary of State. Examples of material support include “Any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including currency or monetary instruments or financial securities, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance.” Within the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies, the Center for Palestine Studies promotes “research, teaching and intellectual collaboration among scholars of Columbia University and beyond.” Considering Hamas is the governing body within Gaza, Columbia should investigate if these “partnerships” occur with entities in Gaza and, if they do, whether they cross the line into material support, such as “expert advice” or “training.” Faculty working in these centers should have their collaborations evaluated to ensure they are not crossing the line into material support. In addition, Columbia must provide a thorough reporting of its funding from other countries. We can not allow Columbia to give and receive support from countries that have a history of financing Hamas.

5. Publicly recognize that it is within the purview of an oppressed group to define what that oppression looks like. It is not the right of non-Jews and “Jewish” fringe organizations, such as Jewish Voice for Peace, to appoint themselves experts on what is, or is not, antisemitism. Both the federal government and New York State use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. This definition specifically states that calls to demonize, delegitimize, and dehumanize Jews are antisemitic.

Criticism of actions taken by the State of Israel is just fine. Public chants like “there is no safe place, death to the Zionist state,” “from water to water, Palestine is Arab” in Arabic, and “globalize the intifada,” are explicit calls to murder or expel over seven million Jews from Israel. They are antisemitic declarations meant to delegitimize Jewish rights to their indigenous homeland. These statements do not have “complex meanings” and they are not just “hurtful” for “some students.” The phrase “from the river to the sea” and similar sentiments have also been claimed by Hamas and other anti-Israel politicians. Columbia must also condemn campus affiliates who demonize Jews by depicting them as animals, the way Nazis did, like the postering of a flyer that depicts a skunk with the Israeli flag on its back.

6. Columbia must not weaken its response to antisemitism by conflating it with other forms of hatred. Although Jews experience the largest number of hate crimes per capita of any group in the United States, the University did not have a task force specifically focused on antisemitism until after the horrific attacks on Oct. 7. Columbia must legitimize the decisions of the “Task Force on Antisemitism” and follow every one of its recommendations immediately.

7. Our colleagues from FSJP claim the task force “members have little direct scholarly expertise on the history of antisemitism or of Israel-Palestine.” To increase faculty expertise on antisemitism, Columbia must provide increased funding to hire faculty with expertise on antisemitism. To do this, Columbia should increase funding for the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies to commensurate with funding for the Middle East, South Asian, and African studies department. By doing so, the University can begin to counteract the rhetoric and ideologies promoted by members of the department, specifically members who promote anti-Zionist and anti-Israel sentiments.

8. Continue sanctioning Columbia chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and JVP, not because they simply broke school event policies, but because they have been accused of being one of the most vitriolic antisemitic networks on college campuses. This shouldn’t be surprising, as their national chapter has been accused of expressing support for convicted terrorists at its events. We must recognize these organizations for what they are: the antithesis of unity, both here at Columbia and abroad.

9. University President Minouche Shafik needs to write three little words which she hasn’t publicly said: “We condemn Hamas.”

Our people have been marginalized, silenced, forced to convert, raped, expelled, and murdered by the Roman Empire in 70 CE, the Spanish Inquisition, hundreds of European pogroms, the largest genocide in world history, the Farhud, and our recent expulsion from Arab and Muslim countries like Yemen, Libya, and Iran. It was only when the State of Israel was established in our indigenous homeland that the status quo changed.. Our voices cannot be silenced.

We, the Columbia Faculty and Staff Supporting Israel, pledge to take back our University for Jews, Israelis, and Zionists.