Columbia U. disavows student group over ‘Death to America’ post

The post on X followed reports of Khamenei’s death in US-Israel strike.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

An anti-Israel student group operating under the name Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) posted “Death to America” on X on Saturday following reports that the U.S. and Israel had eliminated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The phrase was written in an English transliteration of the Persian phrase commonly chanted at demonstrations in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

When the social media site took down the post, the group defiantly wrote, “X forced us to delete our “marg bar amrika” tweet in order to gain back access to our account but the sentiment still stands.”

The account was subsequently taken down.

Columbia University distanced itself from the organization, stating that CUAD “is not a recognized student group, or affiliated in any way with the University,” and charged that it was using the school’s name illegally.

In a later statement, Columbia condemned the post’s “violent, abhorrent language,” calling it “reprehensible.”

Columbia said it had revoked the group’s recognition in July and is exploring legal options to prevent the continued use of its name.

The university added that no recognized student organizations are currently affiliated with CUAD, following warnings that groups maintaining ties would lose funding and campus privileges.

During the war in Gaza, more than 80 student organizations had reportedly been affiliated with the umbrella group.

CUAD was a leading organizer of anti-Israel encampments on Columbia’s campus during the war, protests that drew national attention for protesters’ illegal occupation of school buildings and numerous reports by Jewish students of concurrent verbal and physical abuse they suffered on campus.

The group was also involved in a demonstration calling for violence against Jews outside a New York synagogue last November.

Small anti-war rallies protesting the American airstrikes on Iran, known as “Operation Epic Fury,” have been held in cities including New York, Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C.

There have also been demonstrations, both in the US and in Europe, some led by Iranian expatriates, where the participants chanted “thank you” to both US President Donald Trump and to Israel for targeting the Islamic regime in general, and assassinating Khamenei in particular.