A horde of pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a New York library under siege last week while a group of Jewish students took refuge from the mob.
The episode, which took place at Cooper Union, a science and art school in Manhattan’s East Village with less than 1,000 students, featured about 50 students who were forced to barricade themselves inside the library as pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the building.
Cooper Union sophomore Taylor Roslyn Lent was among those locked inside the library as demonstrators pounded on the doors.
“I can say that I felt unsafe and unprotected,” she told the New York Post. “I would like the university to admit what went on and not avoid the topic. I was shocked that I was experiencing this at my private university — in America — in 2023.”
The pro-Palestinian protesters reportedly carried flags and signs reading, “Zionism Hands Off Our Universities,” as they terrorized students.
The episode marks an ugly escalation of public antisemitism that has followed Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack that killed 1,400 civilians in Israel.
In Russia, pro-Palestinian rioters stormed an airport to hunt down Jewish passengers who arrived from Tel Aviv.
“Passengers were forced to take refuge in planes or hide in the airport for fear of being attacked,” The Guardian reported. “Local health authorities said that 20 people had been injured, including two who were critical.”
The pro-Palestinian rallies-turned-riots were not isolated incidents of blatant antisemitism. On Monday, Reuters ran the headline, “Open hatred of Jews surges globally, inflamed by Gaza war.”
“In countries where figures are available from police or civil society groups, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany and South Africa, the pattern is clear: the number of antisemitic incidents has gone up since Oct. 7 by several hundred percent compared with the same period last year,” the wire reported.
In New York City, home to the largest Jewish population in America, the police department reported a 164 percent spike in anti-Jewish crime. The escalation of antisemitism has been decades in the making, fueled by college radicalism and put on full display in pro-Palestinian marches nationwide.
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Beyond the outright charging at Jewish students in New York City, pro-Palestinian activists flashed Swastikas in Times Square in solidarity with Hamas terrorists who massacred Jewish civilians.
In London, pro-Palestinian activists chanted in support of Hamas.
Elliot Tebele, the founder of the viral Instagram account “f-ckjerry,” went undercover at a pro-Palestinian rally to interview protesters.
“How would you describe a Jew?” Tebele asked one demonstrator.
“They’re devils,” they said.
“So if they do take Palestine, where do the 12 million Jews go?” Tebele asked another.
“Go to hell,” responded.
The responses characterize the level of antisemitism present at the pro-Palestinian demonstrations cloaked under the righteous banner of “liberation.” Vice News reported Wednesday that the demonstrations have now become magnets for neo-Nazi groups to “spew antisemitic and anti-immigrant conspiracy theories, launder them into the mainstream, and drive recruitment.”
Black Lives Matter (BLM) fostered antisemitism within its ranks for years and was propelled by corporate America, which spent millions to steer clear of the “racism” label. In other words, the effort to “mainstream” antisemitism came with the support of Wall Street titans and newsroom activists educated on far-left campuses.
“Sooner or later, those extremists were going to be emboldened,” wrote Federalist Senior Editor David Harsanyi Monday. “Sooner or later, they were going to be in positions of power.”
[RELATED: Liberal Jews Have No Reason To Be Surprised By Progressive Antisemitism]
