Attacked with rocks... spat on... threatened with murder: Jewish students reveal terrifying intimidation by anti-Israel thugs - and two men who faced down a wild mob rampaging through their campus

New York City police officers in riot gear arrested dozens of anti-Israel demonstrators and dismantled a protest encampment at Columbia University on Tuesday, bringing to an end days of ugly and - at times - violent turmoil on campus.

But for weeks Jewish students at Columbia have been forced to endure harassment, intimidation and even assaults.

These are their stories collected by DailyMail.com - beginning with one university student, who stared down a crazed mob as they attempted to take over the school's central administrative building, Hamilton Hall.

Rory Wilson, 22, junior, history major

After a friend and I worked our way into the heart of the crowd swarming around Hamilton Hall, I looked out at the masked, shouting masses lit by the constant flicker of cameras. 

My adrenaline soared. 

We started pulling back a table propped against the doors and the crowd realized we were not with them. 

They started accusing us of aiding genocide and calling us idiots for risking ourselves for nothing. 

After a friend and I worked our way into the heart of the crowd swarming around Hamilton Hall, I looked out at the masked, shouting masses. (Above) Rory Wilson and his friend Charles

We were pinned against the door. I played contact sports in the past, so a bunch of shrieking Barnard girls half my size didn't faze me, but then a man dressed all in black jumped up beside us. 

He glared through the eye-slit in his mask – and I recognized that he had harassed me several days before, calling me a 'Zionist inbreeder.' I had no idea if he was a student or what he was willing to do. 

He started grabbing me, wrenching at my leg, trying to force me away from the doors. After a brief struggle, he jumped away and the screaming mob returned. Ultimately a friend got me out of there safely.

Looking back now, I am grateful to God for the chance to have stood against them. Yet I am saddened that the university let the situation devolve into such chaos and intimidation.

Chaya Droznik, 22, junior, Computer Science

As a Jewish student, the past few weeks on Columbia's campus have been a nightmare reminiscent of stories I have heard about 1930s Nazi Germany.

Just steps from campus a pro-Palestinian protester, his face covered with a keffiyeh, threatened me that he'd, 'do what all the soldiers did on October 7.'

'Good thing you're here in America, at least you're not in Palestine, right,' he said.

Attempting to enter the encampment wearing my Star of David, a mob of protestors led by Khymani James, threatened to push me and my two friends off the lawn.

James has now been banned from campus over a video in which he declares, 'Zionists don't deserve to live.' 

Late Monday night, when the protestors violently took control of Hamilton Hall, I attempted to observe the takeover, but the mob surrounded me, pushed me, and waved posters in my face.

Just steps from campus a pro-Palestinian protester, his face covered with a keffiyeh (above), threatened me that he'd, 'do what all the soldiers did on October 7.' 'Good thing you're here in America, at least you're not in Palestine , right,' he said

As a Jewish student, the past few weeks on Columbia's campus have been a nightmare reminiscent of stories I have heard about 1930s Nazi Germany. (Above) Chaya Droznik, 22

Jessica Schwalb, 21, junior, Human Rights

Two friends and I got caught up in an anti-Israeli mob on campus as they formed a human chain to push counterprotesters out of the encampment.

Their leader, Khymani James chanted: 'Say it loud say it clear, we don't want no Zionists here!'

Public Safety officers watched as the mob marched and shouted, 'one step forward, and another step forward.'

Then James publicly stated: 'Be grateful that I'm not just going out and murdering Zionists' – a terrifying echo of Nazi Germany.

But the most remarkable scene I witnessed was the violent takeover of Hamilton Hall. I saw someone smashing through the windows of the doorway with a hammer. It was like that scene from The Shining.

Columbia faculty members were enmeshed in the student protest encampments.

The people who have been hired to educate and inspire all students – sanctioned discriminatory access to the lawn and seemingly endorsed pro-genocide rhetoric.

Two friends and I got caught up in an anti-Israeli mob on campus. (Above) Jessica Schwalb, 21

Hana Cohen, 20, sophomore, Psychology and Modern Jewish Studies

The last six months at Columbia have been a nightmare. My Jewish friends and I have become targets of vile antisemitism.

I've been spat on, verbally assaulted, told to 'go back to where I come from', and labeled a 'dirty Zionist' countless times – even inside the supposed sanctuary of our dining halls.

I receive dirty stares in academic buildings. My best friends have been followed home by groups shouting 'yahoodi, yahoodi f*** you' (an antisemitic slur).

Walking on campus is now an exercise in fear and paranoia. People know who I am because I am very active in the Jewish community on campus -- and they make sure I know that.

The great university I once dreamed of attending, where I hoped to find acceptance and understanding, has now become a breeding ground for hate disguised as righteous activism.

Elisha Baker, 21, sophomore, Middle East History and Arabic

These protests are not peaceful and pro-Palestinian, they're violent, anti-American and pro-Hamas.

Campus demonstrators are calling for an intifada which connotes the murder of Jews.

Others are shouting, 'we don't want no Zionists here,' 'you have no culture,' 'go back to Europe,' and even holding up signs mocking Jewish students as 'Al-Qassam's next target.'

Off-campus, at a protest near One World Trade Center, I was kicked in the stomach by a keffiyeh-wearing protestor. A few minutes later, at the same rally, someone set my American flag on fire. 

It ignited and the flames burnt a hole in the back of my shirt.

Off-campus, at a protest near One World Trade Center, I was kicked in the stomach by a keffiyeh-wearing protestor. (Above) Elisha Baker

Yola Ashkenazie, 21, senior at Barnard College, Psychology and Economics

I have watched as Jewish students have been assaulted — physically and verbally — by pro-Hamas protesters on and around campus.

In fear for my own safety and emotional well-being, I left campus and flew to Tel Aviv to be with family for Passover.

It is sad and disappointing, but I feel safer in a war zone than I do at my own university - a place I loved dearly and called home for the past four years.

In fear for my own safety and emotional well-being, I left campus and flew to Tel Aviv to be with family for Passover. (Above) Yola Ashkenazie

Avi Weinberg, 25, Senior studying Economics

On April 21, I attempted to access Columbia's lawn with two friends when I was surrounded by a mob led by student protest leader Khymani James.

The demonstrators accused us of being Zionists and threatened to physically remove us from the lawn.

The horde of over 100 students linked arms and marched toward us. 

There was no response from the university's public safety. We were left to fend for ourselves.  After 15 minutes of harassment, my friends and I decided to deescalate the situation and leave.

As a student, it is impossible to walk away from these experiences and pretend nothing happened. The physical safety of Jewish students on Columbia's campus has been compromised.

The horde of over 100 students linked arms and marched toward us. (Above) Avi Weinberg

Michael Lippman, 21, junior, Financial Economics and Jewish Thought

I have been spat on, harassed and screamed at – all because I am an outspoken Jewish student on Columbia's campus.

This is not 'free speech'. It's mob intimidation. [I added that]

The protesters openly and proudly hate Israel and call for the Jewish homeland to be wiped off the map.

Their childish rhyming chants for 'intifada' recall historic murders of Jews, while their cries for revolution are really calls to destroy the fabric of America.

We must take these protesters at their word.

This is not a 'peace movement.' They're demanding more war and emboldening Hamas to repeat the atrocities of October 7.

I have been spat on, harassed and screamed at – all because I am an outspoken Jewish student on Columbia's campus. (Above) Michael Lippman

Jonathan Lederer, 22, sophomore, Computer Science

On April 20, a pro-Palestinian riot broke out on Columbia's campus and there was no public safety or NYPD in sight.

An individual stole my Israeli flag and when I tried to retrieve it, a mob of pro-Palestinian protestors surrounded and pushed me.

Two individuals threw hard objects that may have been rocks that hit me in the face.

Then, I was backed up against a gate and the mob lit my Israeli flag on fire.

I have never felt more vulnerable. I genuinely feared for my life.

On the other side of the gate, just off-campus, there were New York Police Department officers. But they weren't allowed on campus without the permission of Columbia President Minouche Shafik.

A few days later, I was physically assaulted on campus again and still the administration refused to allow NYPD on campus.

I now feel safer off-campus where the NYPD can more easily intervene if I need help.

Two individuals threw hard objects that may have been rocks that hit me in the face. Then, I was backed up against a gate and the mob lit my Israeli flag on fire. (Above) Jonathan Lederer

Nathan Saldinger, 26, senior, Psychology Major

On the first day the anti-Israel 'encampment' sprung up last month, I had no idea it was there.

Walking past the tent city, replete with pro-terrorist signs and symbols, dozens of people I once thought of as peers intimidatingly stared at me as I walked by.

Afterward, I could barely string a sentence together in class.

Hanging in the university's Hamilton Hall – where the Office of the Dean is located – I have seen anti-Semitic caricatures of Jews.

Meanwhile, university staff have done practically nothing to stop the hatred.

My on-campus experiences are now akin to those my ancestors experienced before the Holocaust.

My on-campus experiences are now akin to those my ancestors experienced before the Holocaust. (Above) Nathan Saldinger