“The American war machine should not be honored for the horrors unleashed on others,” says anti-Israel Columbia student group.
By World Israel News Staff
Anti-Israel group Columbia University Apartheid Divest is encouraging students at the Ivy League school to commemorate Palestinian terrorists, rather than American military personnel this Veterans Day.
“Veterans Day is an American holiday to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of veterans. We reject this holiday and refuse to celebrate it,” read a flyer posted on Apartheid Divest’s social media accounts.
“The American war machine should not be honored for the horrors unleashed on others,” the post continued. “Instead, we will celebrate Martyrs Day in honor of those martyred by the Israel-U.S. war machine. A day to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of those martyrs.”
The anti-Israel and anti-American message did not go unnoticed by Columbia students who served in the armed forces.
“That post really shook the hornet’s nest,” Sam Nahins, a 31-year-old Air Force veteran who completed an undergraduate degree at Columbia earlier this year, told the New York Post.
“They’ve never hid their disdain for veterans. But now it’s really out in the open,” he added. “Last year when students and faculty members were running around dressing up as jihadists and screaming ‘Death to America,’ ‘Death to Western civilization,’ death to everything but their cause, I had friends get called infidels, and murderers and baby-killers.”
In a statement to the Post, the university said it was aware of the Veterans Day protests and claimed that its “public safety team is monitoring for any disruptions to campus activity.”
“Columbia is proud of our students, faculty and staff who are veterans, and we are grateful for their service and sacrifice and the invaluable contributions they offer to our community,” a campus spokesperson told the Post on Sunday. “The University honors its veterans on Veterans Day and every day, and we are proud to be participating in the New York Veterans Day Parade tomorrow, as we have for more than a decade.”