“I am horrified and disgusted with the antisemitism being spewed at and around the Columbia University campus,” Mayor Adams said.
By World Israel News Staff
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that he is working to ensure the safety of Jewish students and staff at Columbia University, as well as in the city, after massive anti-Israel protests have seen mobs chanting their support for the Hamas terror group and October 7th massacres.
Adams has come under fire after virulently anti-Israel students formed an encampment at Columbia and repeatedly harassed Jewish students, following them and threatening them with physical harm.
Unlike several university presidents who have waffled on the issue of whether such behavior falls under the protection of free speech, Adams clarified that he considers protesters to be engaging in hate speech.
“I am horrified and disgusted with the antisemitism being spewed at and around the Columbia University campus — like the example of a young woman holding a sign with an arrow pointing to Jewish students stating ‘Al-Qasam’s Next Targets,’ or another where a woman is literally yelling ‘We are Hamas,’ or another where groups of students are chanting ‘We don’t want no Zionists here’ — and I condemn this hate speech in the strongest of terms,” Adams said.
“Supporting a terrorist organization that aims to kill Jews is sickening and despicable. As I have repeatedly said, hate has no place in our city, and I have instructed the NYPD to investigate any violation of law that is reported. Rest assured, the NYPD will not hesitate to arrest anyone who is found to be breaking the law.”
Adams added that New York “will not be a city of lawlessness, and those professional agitators seeking to seize the ongoing conflict in the Middle East to sow chaos and division in our city will not succeed.”
However, Adams also stressed that Columbia “is a private institution on private property, which means the NYPD cannot have a presence on campus unless specifically requested by senior university officials.”
Adams concluded by stating that “in this moment of heightened tension around the world, we stand united against hate.”