Brave Jewish Columbia University graduates confront 'solidarity camp' tent squatters with Israeli flags

Two Jewish graduates of Columbia University snuck into the campus pro-Palestine encampment with Israeli flags and accused activists of ‘supporting radical Islamic terrorism’.

Isidore Karten and his friend, Tomer Brenner, who gained access to the encampment on Tuesday afternoon, also carried a poster with pictures of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. They were confronted by protesters and asked to leave but refused and spent several hours in the encampment staging their own counter protest.

Both told DailyMail.com that the encampment should be immediately removed by university leadership and accused pro-Palestine activists of making Jewish students feel unsafe.

The encampment has been set up on the South Lawn of Columbia’s Upper West Side campus for around a week. Students involved in the action have refused to leave until the university commits to ending any investments which are linked to Israel.

NYPD cops stormed the grounds several days ago arrested more than 100 students involved in the protests but the encampment of nearly 100 tents has remained firmly in place.

Two Jewish graduates of Columbia University snuck into the campus pro-Palestine encampment with Israeli flags and accused activists of ‘supporting radical Islamic terrorism’

Isidore Karten and his friend, Tomer Brenner, who gained access to the encampment on Tuesday afternoon, also carried a poster with pictures of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas on October 7

They were confronted by protesters and asked to leave but refused and spent several hours in the encampment staging their own counter protest.

Some Jewish students have joined the encampment in support

Students, many wearing keffiyeh headscarves and face masks, have led chants including ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ - which Jewish groups say is anti-Semitic - and called for intifada, which means uprising.

Karten, who studied architecture and graduated in 2023, said: ‘What they are really doing is supporting Hamas. They are supporting radical Islamic terrorism.’

Brenner, 29, from Tel Aviv, who graduated in 2020, added: ‘We are seeing the flags and the symbols that are all about causing maximum violence for Israelis.

‘They are chanting about intifada.

‘We don’t understand why the administration is not taking them away from here.’

He claimed other students have chanted ‘burn Tel Aviv’.

The pair said they sneaked into the encampment, which has a gated perimeter and entry points watched over by activists. They claimed pro-Palestine students the surrounded them and told them to leave - but both refused and gave their interview from inside the perimeter.

‘We got circled, everyone was blocking us because they don’t want anybody to, God forbid, see an Israeli flag or an American flag, or posters of hostages [kidnapped by Hamas on October 7],’ said Brenner.

The encampment has been set up on the South Lawn of Columbia’s Upper West Side campus for around a week

Students involved in the action have refused to leave until the university commits to ending any investments which are linked to Israel

‘They are claiming it’s a safe space, however it’s only safe for them.’

Karten claimed he had seen a Jewish person wearing religious symbols told to ‘go back to Poland’.

‘It’s not only about Israel, it’s about Jews,’ he said of the encampment.

‘I’m very against what they are doing here, I don’t think they should be here.’

He said the protests and the encampment were ‘infringing’ on the education of others and added: ‘I have seen people here supporting intifada, they are screaming for intifada.’

He said the encampment and the campus is ‘not a safe place’.

‘This is horrible what they are doing,’ he said of the encampment. ‘They should not be able to be here. They are making people feel unsafe.’

Asked whether he feels unsafe, Karten said: ‘I can defend myself.’

He added: ‘Why are there people supporting terrorism here and nobody is doing anything about it?

‘I’m embarrassed to say I graduated from Columbia.

‘They should be arrested. We have people pushing us, people are blocking us and standing around us telling me I should leave.’

Some Jewish students have joined the encampment in support.

The Columbia students also had 'kidnapped' posters from victims of the October 7 attacks by Hamas

Students held flags outside Columbia University 

Jared Kannel, a Jewish student inside the perimeter who said he supports the cause, intervened while Brenner and Karten spoke and said: ‘I don’t want him speak for all Jews.’

Kannel said he fully supported the demands of the protest group that Columbia should divest from Israel.

But Kannel also singled out the university administration for criticism, indicating how leaders have been blasted by both sides over their handling of the protests.

‘This has been one of the most important experiences of my life,’ Kannel said.