‘Israel does not have the right to defend its occupation’
A coalition of student groups at Columbia University recently issued a statement in support of the Palestinians in their renewed assault against Israel.
The historically ignorant and hyperbolic Palestine Solidarity Groups at Columbia proclamation, obtained by NRO’s Zach Kessel and titled “Oppression Breeds Resistance,” refers to the terrorist slaughter of hundreds of Israelis as “the latest surge in violence,” and opens by noting the “loss of human life” on both sides of the conflict is a “deeply painful and heartbreaking experience.”
Nothing will ever get resolved, the groups claim, until Israel ends it “occupation” and “apartheid colonial system.”
“Gaza is an open-air prison that lacks essential necessities such as food, clean water, medicine and electricity,” the statement reads. “Palestinians in Gaza have endured five brutal wars and prolonged inhumane siege for 16 years depriving them of their most basic rights.
“[T]he whole world is SILENT while Palestinians live in an open air [sic] prison and continue to suffer as a result of the siege and wars applied by a series of fascist, racist and colonial Israeli governments.”
The groups blame not only Israel, but the United States and “other Western governments […] which fund and staunchly support” it. They claim “every single political avenue available” has been denied to the Palestinians.
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The coalition also blasted Barnard College and Columbia’s School of General Studies for sending post-terror attack emails which addressed only Israeli students: These were attempts at a “complete erasure of Palestinians” and their suffering, it said.
Further, the coalition wants Columbia to “end its ties with apartheid Israel” including terminating a dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
“We remind Columbia students that the Palestinian struggle for freedom is rooted in international law, under which occupied peoples have the right to resist the occupation of their land,” the statement concludes. “Israel does not have the right to defend its occupation, its apartheid state or its siege of Gaza.”
The last image of the statement posted on X is truncated and lists only one Columbia student as a signatory — SALSA, the Columbia Law School South Asian Law Students Association. However, in an email to The College Fix, Kessel noted other signatories include the Palestinian Student Union, Columbia Law Students for Palestine, the National Lawyers Guild at Columbia, the Columbia Law Restorative Justice Collective, the Arab Students Association, the Muslim Student Association, Empowering Women of Color and the Conflict Resolution Collective.
MORE: Harvard president distances university from groups blaming Israel for attacks
IMAGE: Zach Kessel/X
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