Original subtitles

- Why do you think these encampments

cause such an intense response

from some of the most powerful people in the world?

[stringed music] ♪♪

[crowd jeering]

- Thank you all for being here today.

We have several members of Congress here.

Throughout history,

Columbia students have contributed

to the great storybook of America's life and thought.

The cherished traditions of this university

are being overtaken right now

by radical and extreme ideology.

Anti-Israel encampments are popping up

at universities all across this country.

[jeering continues]

- We're here to discuss the Little Gazas

that have risen up on campuses across America.

These Little Gazas are disgusting cesspools

of antisemitic hate,

full of pro-Hamas sympathizers, fanatics, and freaks.

- There was a very concerted effort

on behalf of members of the media

to portray things a certain way and refuse to discuss Gaza.

- They see something on TikTok

and they're like, "Israel bad and Hamas good."

- Can you believe they are chanting about the infantada

in New York City?

- I really believe they are brainwashed.

- I mean, this is literally like a demonstration in Tehran.

- This is terrorism.

The war on terror has gotten to U.S. campuses.

[stringed music] ♪♪

- The universities are materially invested

in the genocide in Gaza.

Through their connections to companies

that manufacture the weapons

or that operate illegally throughout Occupied Palestine.

We don't want our money to go towards Palestinian death.

[stringed music] ♪♪

[traffic sounds]

There weren't a lot of human rights programs

in the United States.

Columbia University had the best.

It had a good name.

And not only that, it was a home to a lot of scholarship

that I looked up to that I thought I would benefit from.

I started at Columbia University

and almost immediately afterwards,

October 7 happened.

Then I didn't really have time to think about

how I would be involved in the Palestinian movement.

I just had to be involved.

The other option was to be paralyzed and depressed.

[distant siren wailing]

- Before October 7th,

the university was cracking down

on Palestinian activism on campus.

They pushed a certain narrative,

a narrative that's supporting Israel,

that's vilifying the Palestinians.

And October 7th just gave them more opportunity

to crack down more and more on us.

[stun dents chanting]

- "Students for Justice in Palestine"

and "Jewish Voice for Peace", which are the main

forces organizing amongst undergraduates

for justice in Palestine ended up being banned

because of the university saying

that they had violated certain campus policies

around demonstration.

- I am a Jewish student here to say,

when Columbia speaks of Jewish safety,

it seems that they only mean to protect Jewish students

who support Israel or are silent in their dissent.

[crowd cheering]

In this suspension, Columbia has made it very clear that

they don't care about their students nor their speech.

The only thing they care about protecting right now

is their pocketbook.

[crowd cheering]

- The endowment of Columbia is roughly $14 billion.

Columbia has an investment company

which manages where those investments go.

Around 90 percent, if not more, are indirect investments.

So they're stocks

or they're held in companies like BlackRock.

And students have no access to what those are

or are denied access based on their viewpoint,

even though the university says that that isn't the case.

We do know that Columbia University

has investments in like, General Electric,

has ties to Lockheed Martin and other companies that

either produce weapons or produce information technology

for the occupation army.

The priority demand was divestment.

Underneath divestment was the boycott demand

and disclosure.

Divestment is not difficult.

The university has divested from private prisons.

The university also divested from Russia

following the invasion of Ukraine.

But of course, nobody paid attention

because it's exactly in line

with U.S. geopolitical interests.

- The bigger the endowment,

the more you are beholden to your donors.

To break with Israel would make a lot of these donors very mad.

- The board of trustees make the important decisions

about the direction of the university.

They get the final say on whether a divestment happens.

People on the board of trustees are people like Jeh Johnson

who is simultaneously on the board of trustees

of Lockheed Martin.

If you're on the board of trustees of

a weapons manufacturer,

then you care that that weapons manufacturer makes profit.

You care that there is war enough, death enough,

killing enough that you can use your weapons.

The genocide didn't start on October 7th.

Neither did the pro-Palestine movement generally on campus.

Students had already pushed like divestment referendums

in previous years.

We had voted on divestment referendums

at various colleges within Columbia.

All of them passed.

[students cheering]

- Immediately, the president sent out an email saying

we don't have actual general

consensus amongst the student body or amongst our community

in which they include in the community the Columbia alumni.

Free, free Palestine!

- Free, free Palestine!

- Free, free, free Palestine!

- Free, free, free Palestine!

- What do we want? - Justice!

- When do we want it? - Now!

- We had done everything we could think of.

We did peaceful protest that was ignored.

We did strategic interruptions.

That was ignored and punished.

Students had written up this whole divestment proposal

saying that it is not only possible but would be easy.

And that was just dismissed out of hand.

- They changed all the protest rules.

They wouldn't approve any of our events.

They would just criminalize anyone

who would participate in a protest.

- If they were just going to ignore us

then we had to do something that couldn't possibly

be ignored by the administration.

[pensive music] ♪♪

The first hours in the encampment

were just so peaceful.

It was almost anticlimactic.

It felt like they were just completely taken by surprise.

- That day, April 17,

was Columbia's president Minouche Shafik

her congressional hearing on antisemitism.

It was also less than a month away from graduation.

So there were a lot of pressure points

that the students had considered.

- It really felt like a win insofar as it had sort of

interrupted the normal functionings of the university.

And they were on their back foot

in terms of what they could do to stop us.

- What is this saying?

- You can read it.

Here you go.

- I thought you might provide some more information

since you're walking up to the encampment.

- Oh! - The information is all here.

And this is exactly what was said to you earlier.

- So could you perhaps explain why

we're being subject to interim suspension

for a violation of demonstration policy

for which the stated punishment is a written warning?

- So everything is stated in the letter for you.

So I'm going to encourage you to read it.

- You actually don't cite any of the rules by how they appear.

- I'm just going to encourage you to read the letters, okay?

- So then who do we speak with

to get the answers to these questions?

- So earlier I was here and I encouraged you all

to come talk with me at any time.

So I'm happy to have that conversation now.

- Well you are here with us, why don't we have a conversation

We can have a conversation to the side if you'd like to.

Excuse me, I'm eating a mint.

- Why do you need to hide it from the students

that you're threatening with suspension?

- This is not a threat.

We're giving you a letter that's providing some information.

- Grant, what does that say?

- So basically...

Here... you want to...

Basically it's telling us to disperse.

That we have an unauthorized encampment

and disruption on Columbia's campus.

So basically they're telling everybody that there's

going to be an interim measure of suspending us.

Now, they're accusing us of violating a policy

for which the punishment is a written warning

on your first offense.

- All we are doing here is practicing our

First Amendment right in what the university

has designated "The protest zone" on campus.

So the idea that any of us could be interim suspended,

which requires a danger to the community,

specifically in the code of conduct,

a physical danger to the community, is absurd.

[students jeering]

People are singing songs and grieving and protesting

because it's our loved ones in Palestine that are dying.

- Rape is not resistance.

Rape is not resistance.

- Shame!

- Rape is not resistance.

- Free, free, free Palestine.

- Free, free, free Palestine.

- Rape is not resistance.

- Free, free, free Palestine.

- Rape is not resistance.

- We're here for the Gazans,

the Palestinians who are dying right now as we speak.

Because Gaza is burning.

And we hold the privilege in our hands.

So don't forget it for a second.

And don't let any of those people,

don't let any of these administrators

tell you otherwise.

Don't let public safety or NYPD fear monger you

or intimidate you or silence you.

We will not be silenced!

- Israel has destroyed every single university in Gaza.

[explosion]

[soldier yelling]

[Israeli Soldier] People, get down.

[soldier yelling]

[Israeli Soldier] Happy Hanukkah to the State of Israel.

[explosion]

[distant explosions]

- The most important weapon for any nation is its conscious,

educated youth

that will eventually build it.

Israel targets schools and universities,

cultural centers and institutions,

theaters, and libraries.

Because any nation's most important weapon is education.

What Israel did to us since the 7th of October?

Israel destroyed us.

There is nothing left in Gaza.

- The international court of justice

accepted South Africa's claims

that this was plausibly a genocide

and ordered Israel to stop all genocidal acts.

An order that it has destroyed.

- No armed attack on a state territory,

no matter how serious.

Even an attack involving atrocity crimes

can provide any justification for breaches to the Convention.

Israel's response to the 7th of October 2023 attack

has crossed this line.

I think there are people in Israel

for whom genocide is a plan.

They think that if they inflict enough suffering

on Palestinians in Gaza, enough death,

that the Palestinians will leave and depart,

and the land will be finally clear of them,

and Israel can take it over.

- We came here with one clear purpose.

The purpose is to settle the entire Gaza Strip.

- They don't care about their homes,

They don't care about their deaths,

they don't care about anything but the land.

- I don't have mercy on these Gazans.

I don't think that there is anyone in the state of Israel,

in greater Israel,

that should have mercy on these Gazans.

not on the elderly, not on the young,

and not on the children.

- Gaza, Gaza, Gaza is a cemetery!

There’s no school in Gaza,

because there are no children left in Gaza!

- Israel has traumatized us, forever.

- If you can enter the camp, please join us.

We need you to pull out your phone

- We need you to pull out your phone.

- And call every motherfucker on this campus.

- And call every motherfucker on this campus!

The NYPD...

- Is right at the gates, - Is right at the gates,

- in riot gear, - in riot gear,

- trying to sweep the encampment.

- Trying to sweep the encampment.

- The entire encampment - The entire encampment

- voted unanimously - voted unanimously

- that we will not leave. - that we will not leave.

- until we win - until we win

- all of our demands. - all of our demands.

[crowd cheering]

- They want to wear us out.

They want to depend on us going home.

They want to depend on us giving up.

But that will not happen!

[crowd cheering]

The only weapon they have is fear

and when we call their motherfucking bluff,

they have nothing!

[crowd cheering]

Hope is a discipline!

Hope is our most powerful weapon.

With Palestine in our hearts

there is nothing that can stop us!

For Gaza!

For Palestine!

With love!

[crowd cheering]

- This once prestigious university's reputation

is just going down the toilet

because of all of the...

antisemitism that's flourishing on campus.

- I think one of the excellent recommendations

of our antisemitism task force

is that they have said that...

if you are going to chant,

it should only be in a certain place,

so people who don't want to hear it

are protected from having to hear it.

- When mobs or people are shouting,

"From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free"

or "Long live the Infintada [Intifada]",

are those antisemitic statements?

Yes or no? It's not how you feel, it's...

- I hear them as such, some people don't.

- We have sent a clear message... - So is that yes?

So is that yes?

That is antisemitic behavior, and you should be...

There should be some consequences to

that antisemitic behavior.

We're in agreement, yes?

- Yes. - Thank you.

I yield my time.

- We are prepared to bring you back

if we don't see more tangible progress.

[pensive music] ♪♪

[crowd jeering]

- Disclose, divest, we will not stop we will not rest!

Disclose, divest, we will not stop--

The people united will never be defeated!

The people united will never be defeated!

- Step outside.

- Shame on you!

Shame!

Shame on you!

[tense music] ♪♪

- Let them go. Let them go.

Let them go.

- Peter! Stay strong! Love you, Peter!

Isabelle! Love you!

- There was a lot of confusion in the moment.

I didn't really know what to do

except make sure that we had evidence.

[crowd chanting]

- Mic check. - Mic check.

- They just arrested our first group.

- They just arrested our first group.

- We have countless people prepared to take their place

in the encampment.

- We have countless people prepared to take their place...

- Taking the other lawn!

Move! - Let's go.

- Move!

Let's go!

Disclose, divest!

We will not rest! We will not stop!

Disclose, divest!

- We will not stop. We will not rest.

Disclose, divest!

- Disclose, divest!

Move!

Move!

Move!

- We will not stop! We will not rest!

Disclose, divest!

Disclose, divest!

We will not stop! We will not rest!

Disclose, divest!

We will not stop! We will not rest!

Disclose, divest!

We will not stop! We will not rest!

Free, free Palestine!

Free, free Palestine!

- All of our main organizers had been arrested

and there really wasn't enough people to fill in the space.

- When the second encampment did begin,

it began with community members who we didn't know

and they didn't really know us very well.

The presence of the community was really what allowed

for the longevity of the encampment.

- Divestment right now! - Divestment right now!

- We want justice, you say how!

- We want justice, you say how!

- Disclose, divest!

We will not stop! We will not rest!

Disclose, divest!

We will not stop! We will not rest!

Disclose, divest!

We will not stop! We will not rest!

Disclose, divest!

- I found myself in Palestine for some time

and that led to, I think, my further politicization.

I was all throughout the West Bank,

so I was actually based in Al-Khalil, Hebron,

but I had the opportunity to travel throughout Jerusalem,

Jenin, Nablus.

The thing that hurt me most

was how constrained life is under occupation.

The conditions of life

create just perpetual squashing of people.

I had friends who were born and raised in parts of Hebron

that are currently occupied by settlers

who have witnessed their closest family members being murdered.

- [Israeli soldier] Who? Who?

[Israeli soldier] Don't talk to me!

[Israeli soldier] Move! Move!

[Israeli soldier] Stop! Stop! I'll fuck you up!

- Whose parents fear for them

knowing that they're in vicinity to settlers.

Who haven't been able to visit Jerusalem.

Who haven't been able to see Al-Aqsa,

which is so, so important to Palestinian people,

despite the fact that tourists like myself

can visit whenever we wish.

I left with a lot of messages from friends

that I had made in Palestine who asked to not be forgotten.

- [Palestinian] Aren't you ashamed you criminals?

Criminal soldiers.

Aren't you ashamed?

- [Israeli soldier] Get inside please, sweetie.

Great, thanks.

- [Palestinian] Aren't you ashamed? Aren't you ashamed?

- We have tried to come to a middle ground

with the administration

to protect the safety of the students,

to prevent the NYPD from coming onto campus,

yet the university refused to do that.

[distant cheering]

- We were in One Police Plaza,

which is where they put all the people arrested

for protest violations.

[crowd cheering]

There was all these reporters swarming around.

We were like, wow, well hey, we did the thing,

we got a great image.

This was a really powerful protest.

And I remember my arresting officer came out,

he was like, you know, "Free my man, free my man."

It's like, you're a police officer, you can't say

"Free my man" if you're the person who arrested me.

But he's like, "Hey, you did a good thing, young man,

like, you're famous now."

I had no idea what this guy was talking about.

I was like, was this big news?

Did something big happen?

- Pro-Palestinian protests are spreading at college campuses

in the United States and around the globe.

- I was seeing all these other encampments

just popping off around the country.

I felt tremendously proud, but also quite anxious

that we had been given this very historical task

to try to advance the struggle in some small way,

but significant way.

When we were all in jail,

I don't think any of us really could have imagined the scope.

- People really wanted to know, like,

how they could get things up and running,

and how they could start an encampment.

- It resonated a lot with the students

because I think it gave them

a really concrete and direct way to place pressure

in order to advance the Palestinian struggle.

The student movement really breathed life back

into the larger movement for Palestine.

- The student intifada continues!

We are undeterred!

We do everything we do for Palestine

with Gaza at the heart!

[crowd cheering]

- After six months of mass protests and organizing,

it was this encampment at Columbia

that changed the whole terrain.

I think that is for several reasons.

The media loves talking about campuses.

How could students at an Ivy League college

be arrested on their own campus?

On the other side, their parents work in CNN or work at Fox News

or work at the U .N. or the State Department.

This is the future generation,

and the future generation is risking

arrest, suspension, expulsion for Palestine.

They were terrified about what these encampments

represented for the future of this country.

- This is virtue signaling for white, woke kids

that have no idea what they're talking about.

- Young people are being influenced by those who

are professional at radicalizing our children.

- People that are aggressive, that are spewing hate.

- It is raw hatred towards Jews.

- Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities.

This is reminiscent of what happened in

German universities in the 1930's.

- We are not an authoritarian nation

where we silence people or squash dissent

but order must prevail.

- Those individuals need to be deported immediately.

- There is an appropriate time for the National Guard.

- This may be Bidden's Vietnam.

- But the sad part about it is,

if the numbers are changing, they're having an impact.

- Bravery is very contagious.

We kind of watched Columbia in awe.

And we knew we were next.

[students chanting]

- No one expected it to be as big as it was.

And it got big fast.

The sheer joy of community that I felt.

For the first time since October 7th, I felt so happy.

Knowing that Columbia is in an encampment,

and Georgia State is in an encampment,

and San Diego State is an encampment.

And feeling that every university came together

to say this is wrong,

and we're going to sit here until it's fixed.

I remember feeling very happy to see that...

a lot of the students were not Palestinian.

And it was very inspiring.

It kind of gave me the kick that I needed to keep going.

To see how many people in there were saying,

"I just learned about this, I'm sorry, but I'm here."

There is hope.

[crowd chanting]

- We got Yale holding it down right now, on live!

Make some noise!

[crowd cheering]

And as they continue their encampment,

we will continue as well.

So be loud!

- All can be louder, let's go!

- Disclose, divest!

We will not stop! We will not rest!

Disclose, divest!

We will not stop! We will not rest!

Disclose, divest!

We will not stop! We will not rest...

[drumming]

- I don't--

How are you saying something,

and then you do something different?

There you go.

- Yeah that’s what I just did. - No that’s not what you did.

- Oh, ok stop, I did it too fast.

[singing]

- There was a proposal made

that the negotiation be shared at assembly every day.

Raise your hand if you are in favor of that.

Beautiful, so we will be doing that going forward.

Thank you.

- Sueda and I,

every day we spend hours with the administration

negotiating on your behalf.

To get our demands.

[crowd cheering]

I was approached the night of the encampment

that I would be the person communicating

with the administration.

The organizers trusted me, given my background,

in terms of like working in diplomacy,

either at the British Embassy or here at the UN.

We discussed who's best to support me

and we felt that Sueda is the perfect person.

- The university wanted to shut down the encampment

in any way that it could.

When it first started they were like,

let's not let them bring in water.

Let's shut down all of the gates.

Let's not let them bring in tents.

Let's not let them bring in blankets.

Because it was cold, it was freezing.

- They underestimated the will of the students.

They literally like feel that these are just kids.

Through my conversation I just felt how much

the university is detached from reality.

What university in the world

want to invest in weapon manufacturers?

Why would you do that? You're concerned with education.

Like we're literally giving you back the university

to be a moral university.

Every time in the negotiations when we told them that,

they would say like,

"Oh, you're overestimating your power or your influence."

But then after the fourth day...

they were just like so silent.

Because clearly it's a global movement.

I remember like telling him like at this point

there are 60 universities setting up encampments

across the United States.

They're just like waiting to hear

what would happen at Columbia.

They were like, this is our deal.

You have until 12 a.m.

If you don't take the deal, the National Guard

or the police would come in.

We left the negotiations.

We were like just managing what we want to do.

I verified with a couple of congress people

and they said it's an empty threat.

We called the governor.

The governor said there's no intention

of sending any National Guard.

We called their bluff.

- Not at any moment

we are trusting the administration

even when they are conceding to our demands.

[crowd cheering]

[students chanting]

- Get in the pen or you're gonna get arrested.

You're blocking the...

- NYPD, we know you!

- NYPD, we know you!

- You're Israeli-trained, too!

- You're Israeli-trained, too! - Let's keep it up!

They can't stop us!

We're here for the students! Let's go!

- In the first few days of the Columbia encampment,

I think I was outside there

maybe 20 out of 24 hours a day,

keeping up the chanting, keeping up the energy,

so that the students would always feel our presence

and always feel strengthened by it.

What happens on the campuses?

- What happens on the campuses?

- Is visible to the entire world!

- Is visible to the entire world!

- So let's raise our voices!

- So let's raise our voices!

- Keep our spirits high!

- Keep our spirits high!

- And chant for a free Palestine!

- And chant for a free Palestine!

[chanting continues]

- So thank you all for being here with us!

Standing strong with us!

Chanting with us!

Demanding divestment with us!

Demanding amnesty with us!

Demanding freedom for Palestine with us!

- There were all-day, all-night rallies

outside the gates of Columbia

making sure the encampments exist for longer,

that they could reach more of their political demands,

and it helped get food into the encampment,

it helped get supplies into the encampment,

but most importantly, it amplified what was happening.

In many ways also sent a message to the students.

You're not alone, the movement is not going to abandon you.

- Shut it down! Shut it down!

Shut it down! Shut it down!

Shut it down! Shut it down!

Shut it down! Shut it down!

- When the first arrests were made,

me and my friends came to the second encampment

that was set up,

after running a picket around

the students who started to first collect

and when it was time to go to sleep that night,

I found myself feeling so anxious

and unable to rest,

knowing that there was work to be done, I guess,

and so I came to the supply tarp

and have basically been working there ever since.

Alumni have donated so much.

Restaurants in the area have donated so much,

to the point where we have an abundance of food and

supplies that we are redirecting to organizations in Harlem

and also other encampments in New York.

[woman singing]

Roti roll, these ones are chicken makhani.

Do you eat chicken?

- I do, maybe I'll come back.

- Yeah, come back.

♪♪

- Mic check!

- Mic check!

- If everyone could please gather around

for today's updates coming out of Gaza.

The civil defense announces that the number of recovered bodies

at Nasser Hospital as mass graves as a result

of the barbaric Zionist siege on the hospital

and indiscriminate killing of men and women and children

has risen to 342 martyrs just today.

A community member here who's already lost tens

of family members in Gaza

lost another one last night to the most recent air strike.

So I just want to remind everyone

that what's happening in Gaza

is not far removed from us whatsoever.

- I was born and raised in...

a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus in Syria.

My family's history in Palestine actually goes back to...

as long as my grandparent could trace it.

They lived in a very small village right next to Tiberias.

Mostly they were farmers.

My grandmother,

she used to tell us that she had Jewish neighbors.

They would share a piece of land where they would farm it.

Tiberias was one of the first cities

that the Zionists targeted in 1948 with ethnic cleansing.

In April 1948,

a month before the Nakba,

the Zionist militias, they burned one of their villages.

When they heard the news about it,

they had to leave immediately.

Some of the men went to fight.

Big families, they had to go to Syria.

My grandmother, she was pregnant at that time.

She had to walk 40 miles.

She gave birth on the way.

When they arrived in the refugee camp,

they thought it's just a matter of days

until they would go back.

They did not want to be killed

because they heard about the horror stories

across Tiberias.

My dad was born in a tent.

His family lived in that tent until like mid-70s

when they upgraded to small structures.

In the 90s,

they finally kind of like had concrete buildings.

To us, it was always a temporary home

until we go back to Palestine.

That's why very few families

actually invested in their houses.

Not necessarily because they don't have the means,

but because investing more in these houses

means that they may forget Palestine.

My parents, they've never been to Palestine.

They live in Germany.

They are trying to learn the language

just to get the citizenship so they can go visit Palestine.

And it's kind of like heartbreaking

because like my dad, you know,

barely can read Arabic to study German.

- The Zionists were coming to the encampment and saying,

I'm going to come in and rape the women in there.

I'm going to rape you.

- I hope they rape you.

- I hope they rape you.

[crowd chanting]

- They would come,

and they would scream, like, you're all terrorists.

They would throw things into the encampment.

- I know. I know.

You're fucking baby killers.

- Do some shit! What's up! What's up!

Bitch-ass motherfucker!

- I'm a reporter. - Have you been to Gaza?

- Do you speak Arabic? - Have you been to Gaza?

- Send him there.

- What language do you speak?

Where are you from? Where's your ancestors from?

- I'm a reporter. - Why are you even here?

You're just another dummy, right?

Another stupid guy.

- And nothing, not a peep from our administration

about our safety and our protection.

- Get out of here.

- Get out of here. - This is a terrorist.

This is a terrorist.

Fuck you.

- The Zionists came with weapons.

And that's when it became extremely scary.

- Anger flared at the line of barricades

that has been set up at the pro-Palestinian

encampment on the campus.

[men yelling]

- Fuck you, old lady!

Fuck you!

- Fuck you old lady! - He’s got no chance!

- Our dean watched as the Zionists came

and beat up students from the balcony of Royce Hall.

I had that same feeling I had

when I was kicked off the bus in Palestine.

No one is coming to save you.

Not even the people who took an oath

that they were going to come and save you.

Free Palestine.

- Watch out! Watch out!

[explosion]

[crowd screaming]

- What gives you insight into what the universities were doing

during these protests and specifically with Columbia?

- Well, I worked in the top office there

representing the communications from one of their schools.

I was in this role when October 7th happened.

In the early months of the crisis,

I drafted communications that attempted to contextualize

the Israeli-Palestine situation.

I obviously wanted to acknowledge the tragedy

of any Israelis who lost their lives on October 7th.

But I also wanted to bring in the fact that

a number of Palestinians had been killed

at the hand of Israel

in the months leading up to October 7th.

I was told to take anything about

previous Palestine struggles out of the communications.

And for whatever reason, in the document,

the word Palestine and Palestinian were struck out,

but the word Hamas was kept.

I asked for clarification from that

and I was told that for the time being,

we were going to stick to the word Hamas.

We weren't going to use the word Palestine and Palestinian.

I was approached on campus by several students.

They were concerned that the deaths of Palestinians

would be minimized, if not just completely ignored

in the statements coming out from the school.

And I asked them what they wanted me to do.

And they said, could you just please

start putting some numbers into these statements?

You know, absolutely acknowledge

the Israelis who have lost their lives.

But also, could you please put in the number of

Palestinians who lost their lives, just so people can see?

I brought that back to my boss

and what they said to me was this.

"Who were these students?"

And I said, well, I didn't get their names.

And they said, no, no. Who were they?

And I said, well, it was a couple of women

and there was a man.

They said, do I have to spell it out for you?

What did they look like?

What color was their skin?

Were they wearing scarves?

And I didn't feel comfortable answering that question.

Then I was admonished and told to not fall into a,

quote, skewed perspective

that I would be getting from students throughout this crisis.

- Just to make sure.

Community guidelines,

this is an anti-Zionist community building zone,

no smoking, no drinking, no talking to cops,

no engaging with counter protestors.

- Got it, love it, thank you.

- Hi, we're returning.

- Okay, yeah, come on in.

[Israeli music playing] ♪♪

- Israel was a very big part of our family.

In my childhood I had this idea that

in order for Jews to be safe,

they had to have a state.

As I was in college,

one thing that everybody would say was Free Palestine,

the Israeli settler state.

And I'd be like, I don't really understand, like,

why everybody is just erasing Jewish history

and, like, needlessly attacking Jews.

The more you learn about it,

the more you learn that that's not actually the argument.

The issue is not the existence of Jewish people

in historic Palestine.

It's the process of settler colonialism,

and the displacement of the Palestinian people,

the genocide of the Palestinian people.

I started to really question.

I was learning things which were not going to be very acceptable

to large portions of my family.

It almost feels like you are having to sort of reject

a part of yourself.

The more that I became sort of disillusioned

with the project of Zionism,

that happened at the moment where I sort of

started to get into Jewish studies.

Like, you know, I was teaching myself how to read Hebrew.

I was doing, like, Torah study.

It became really important to me that I

actually do have, like, a positive connection to Judaism.

- Joining us now, a lead negotiator

for the student coalition at Columbia University,

Mahmoud Khalil.

Mahmoud, thank you so much

for taking a few moments with us.

Mahmoud, as you know, threats and fear of violence

have driven many Jewish students from the campus at Columbia.

What do you say to people who say the campus is now

an unsafe place for Jewish students?

- Once again, I would say that the liberation of Palestine

and the Palestinians

and the Jewish people are intertwined.

They go hand in hand.

Antisemitism and any other form of racism

has no place on this campus and in this movement.

It's completely farcical to imply that in any way,

like, Jewish people were, you know, being persecuted

or being driven off the encampment.

We don't tolerate that. We're internationalists.

We believe that this is a struggle that unites all people.

- So when I watch these media reports of rampant antisemitism

and I hear school officials give speeches

or present statements on it,

they're avoiding giving any example

because I really feel like there's a dearth

of these examples.

I mean, they're there on the scene.

They have cameras set up.

They have reporters there 24/7.

So where are the sound bites

of the people saying the antisemitic things?

- Today, Jewish students at Columbia University

spoke out saying, that they feel unsafe.

- I've seen them parrot foul antisemitic tropes.

- There's a certain minority of students

who feel threatened by the very presence

of people who are advocating for stopping a genocide.

And those people are listened to much, much more

than the majority of the people

who are advocating for cutting ties with the genocidal regime.

- I have never felt more proud to be Jewish

and more in line with the values

of my faith than when I was being taken out

of Columbia's lawns with my hands zip-tied behind my back

in order to push our university to divest from genocide,

apartheid, and occupation in Palestine.

- I was actually assigned to investigate

what were the antisemitic comments that were happening,

what was antisemitism, how could we combat it,

what's going to be our messaging?

What I found is that these claims of antisemitism

were really being driven by the pro-Israel student groups

that were on campus or pro-Israel faculty.

- Show your fucking face!

- You are not New Yorkers. New York hates you.

- Go to Gaza! See how that works out for you!

- You are not Americans.

Monsters.

- What they were classifying as antisemitism

was any criticism of Israel whatsoever.

And we're going even further than that.

I've read reports of people claiming antisemitism

because they heard the word Palestine

or the word Palestinian.

Or that there was a Palestinian student enrolled in their class.

They saw these things as hate crimes and hate speech.

And they were cataloged as such by the schools.

[helicopter whirring]

[indistinct conversation]

[crowd singing]

- We are here.

And if anyone here disagrees with me, you can tell me.

But I think we are here because we are Jews.

Not just because we happen to be.

Because that is part of who we are.

To fight for liberation of every human being.

To know that every human being is a divine image.

That is what we're doing right now.

And we are separating ourselves

from people who are somehow incapable of seeing that.

We are fighting for the divine spark

for the Tzelem Elohim in every person.

You're all so amazing.

And it's an honor to be here with you.

- If you're familiar with the Havdalah service,

please sing loudly and proudly.

If you're not, please sing loudly and proudly.

It's very Jewish to not know the words

and not know everything, but you'll catch on.

[crowd singing]

- I'm so proud of you.

- I'm so proud of you.

Dude, your photos have been insane.

- They're so good, Judy.

- I'm been watching you.

- Those of us who have been suspended,

don't want to like, jeopardize ourselves more.

But we also really want to be in community, so...

We've been talking to legal about it.

- I would get expelled to do Passover in the encampment.

- There's a possibility of, like, a two seders situation.

- Look, it’s been two days and we've taken five buildings.

Hamilton, Low, Avery, Fayerweather, and Math.

We've got the administration figured right,

their up for calling the cops,

and when they do, we wanna be here.

- We're no longer asking,

but demanding,

an end to all affiliation

and ties

with the Institute for Defense Analysis.

That has resulted in the slaughter

and maiming

of thousands

of Vietnamese and Americans.

- In 68, the students at Columbia took over the campus,

mainly in protest of the war in Vietnam,

specifically for Columbia to divest.

- We can tell how much this university

is hooked into servicing the corporations

and hooked into servicing the war machine.

- The occupation of Hamilton Hall

was really led by black students.

- The Black students of Columbia University,

joined by a few members of the black community,

have been in Hamilton Hall for 56 hours.

Morale is high.

- Learning from the lessons of history,

from the civil rights movement,

from the women's suffrage movement,

from the labor movement,

from the abolitionist movement,

that you have to be willing to be beaten,

to be arrested, to be killed,

is what made those student protestors understand

that they were standing on the shoulders of history.

- I found a student who was dazed,

bleeding profusely from the forehead.

The police refused to let me pass.

I said this man is wounded, he needs help.

They said get out.

- The students were successful in changing

a lot of the culture at Columbia University.

Columbia did reexamine its position

on what was happening in the war in Vietnam.

This also led to

the New York City Police Department

ban on Columbia campus.

Columbia talks about how great that was.

How we were a place of critical thinking

and free thought.

How many leaders and scholars came out of

those encampments and those protests.

That they are themselves college professors

and doctors and lawyers.

They've revised it to say it was okay then, but not okay now.

[dramatic music] ♪♪

- Can you talk about some of the risks that Palestinian students

and other international students take in speaking out

and being vocal on this?

- A lot of the Palestinian students here

they feel very uncomfortable

very very uncomfortable, participating

and protesting the genocide of their people.

That’s why we are very grateful for...

everyone on campus for protesting on our behalf.

- And what would happen to you if you were deported?

- I will live.

We will continue to live, the Palestinian people have been

under occupation, ethnic cleansing

and all sort of

of crimes since 1948

and we prevailed,

we will prevail no matter what will happen.

- The eyes of the nation

and the eyes of the globe are on Columbia.

We will not be giving in.

We will not give them what they want.

[crowd cheering]

- We shouldn't stop here.

Because the people in Gaza are under bombs,

and here we are under disciplinary charges.

[crowd clapping]

- We were attempting to bargain

with the university in good faith,

but they were stonewalling us.

- They were surveilling the negotiations,

though they begged us to keep things in confidence.

The administration, for example,

they sent in a man who was dressed as a janitor,

but he would just put bugs in the room.

I think part of that was to intimidate us

into thinking that you have to sign now.

You have to agree now, or else you get nothing.

They called in members of the faculty to come talk to us.

And there was a woman who began by saying, you know,

I'm Syrian, I understand,

I come from war.

You really have to ask yourself,

at which point are you doing this for yourself

and not for the people in Gaza?

They did read a best and final offer,

which was much worse than anything

that they had previously offered.

- They wanted to offer, you know,

financial transparency on direct investments,

which are a minority of total investments in Columbia.

- Academic freedom would be nothing more than a statement.

- They offered to divest from any company

that was found guilty

of committing human rights violations,

which sounds good,

but it would be a recommendation to a body which is non-binding.

And that non-binding recommendation

would then be deliberated upon

at which point that body would then deliver

a second non-binding recommendation.

So we're now two non-binding recommendations deep.

- They often told us that,

you know, you take a deal here, other universities are watching.

And that's why it was particularly important for us

that we not take a deal,

a shitty deal, an empty deal,

that was nothing more than statements

that we knew would never really yield a result.

The only portion of their proposal

that was giving us anything

were the resilience funds or the scholarships,

which are a slap in the face.

It's really an insult to everyone's intelligence

to suggest that a scholarship would be the remedy

for participating in a genocide.

If you were to ask a person in Gaza

who's surviving a genocide, would you rather the bombs stop?

Or would you rather I continue bombing you,

but you can also come to my school?

The mediators were trying to convince us

that we should take this deal.

But where it would place us is--

we know that in a few months

it's not going to go through the Board of Trustees.

And then students are going to want to protest again.

But you made everybody sign an attestation form

as they were getting off the encampment.

So actually they can't protest without risking

further disciplinary sanctions

in a way that they hadn't before.

So you've closed off all routes to protest.

And you've also effectively ensured that we're actually

not getting any of our demands met.

It's signing on nothing.

- They threatened with disciplinary

if we don't agree to this.

At that point, Sueda did most of the talking.

She was like raging against them.

I just opened the door and called Sueda.

Let's go.

- Earlier today, President Shafik sent out

an email announcing the end of negotiations.

And declared explicitly

that the university will not divest from Israel.

The university has conducted itself

with obstinacy and arrogance.

And the students refuse to trade in the blood of Palestinians.

- Dick, we're now six hours

past the administration's deadline for student

protestors to leave the encampment or face consequences.

But most students that we spoke to

said they're not going anywhere.

- When the police give the trespass warning...

- When the police give the trespass warning...

- Turn your phone on airplane mode and power it off.

- Turn your phone on airplane mode and power it off.

- We needed to place pressure again

on the administration to reopen negotiations.

- We knew that we needed to escalate further.

The idea of an occupation of Hamilton Hall

along the lines of the 1968 protests

was something that people were always sort of considering.

When we felt that there was no further progress

to be made in negotiations

in any engagement with the administration...

then it seemed like the perfect time.

[crowd chanting]

[dramatic music] ♪♪

The Hind's Hall, when it first happened,

I think it was one of the most joyful moments of my life.

The picket was so strong, the chants were so beautiful...

it was just like an electric, electric moment.

- Up! Up! With liberation!

- Up! Up! With liberation!

- Down! Down! With occupation!

[dramatic music] ♪♪

- Hind's Hall is named after Hind Rajab,

who was a six-year-old Palestinian girl from Gaza,

who was assassinated by the Israeli terrorist forces.

- She was in a car fleeing Gaza City with an aunt,

an uncle, and some cousins when they were shot at.

She was alive while the rest of the family was killed,

and she called the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

They dispatched an ambulance to save her.

The ambulance and the medics inside

were also intentionally killed by the occupation.

- They are dead.

- Are they dead?

- Yes.

- Are they in the car with you now?

- Yes.

- Stay in the car, sweetie.

I'm going to stay on the phone.

Talking to you.

I won't hang up, ok?

- Ok.

The tank is next to me.

- Is it moving or is it still? Did someone get out of it?

- Yes, it is moving.

- Is it very close?

- Yes, very very close.

- Ok, don't be scared.

- Please stay with me.

- I'm with you, sweetie.

I'm with you.

I won't hang up.

Even if the soldiers come, God forbid. Don't have up, ok?

We don't want to hang up, I'm here with you.

- Please come take me, please.

Please stay with me.

- Darling, I swear I'm with you.

I'm here with you, talking to you.

- It's almost night, I'm scared.

[crying]

Come get me, please.

- Three hundred and fifty-five bullets were used

on the car that Hind Rajab was in.

She was six, she was a baby.

And so many other babies in Gaza have been killed.

Um, so... The Palestinian students in CUAD

wanted to honor Hind and named the hall after her,

which isn't sufficient, really, but it was,

I think, a good way to

bring her to life on U.S. campuses.

And that’s her story.

- Today... - Today...

- we take this building... - we take this building...

- In honor of Hind... - In honor of Hind...

- and every Palestinian martyr...

- and every Palestinian martyr...

- Because we will honor all the martyrs!

- We will honor all the martyrs!

- All the parents, mothers, fathers!

- All the parents, mothers, fathers!

- We will honor all the martyrs!

- We will honor all the martyrs!

- All the children, sons, and daughters!

- All the children, sons, and daughters!

- We will honor all the martyrs!

- We will honor all the martyrs!

- All the parents, mothers, fathers!

- All the parents, mothers, fathers!

- We will honor all the martyrs!

- We will honor all the martyrs!

- All the children, sons, and daughters!

- All the children, sons, and daughters!

[train rattling]

- The first few hours of the day,

it was quiet around us.

We felt like, okay, Columbia didn't raid us last night,

They're going to wait it out a little bit.

And we just thought the more time that we had,

the more it was likely that we could get

the negotiations up and running

and reestablish that bargaining chip,

which was the whole point of taking Hind's Hall.

The next 20 hours afterwards were kind of a whirlwind.

[yelling and drumming]

[chanting and drumming]

[indistinct conversation]

- We are here today to update New Yorkers

about the ongoing situation at Columbia University.

And our plans to protect students, our staff,

and the public.

They're not here to promote peace or unity

or allow a peaceful displaying of one's voice,

but they're here to create discord and divisiveness.

This must end now.

- The admin wanted to talk again.

They were just pleading with us to take the deal.

You have one final offer to take the deal.

Just take this deal or else.

There was no reason to take such a bad deal.

They said that the NYPD would be coming.

[radio chatter]

- We shall not be moved.

Standing up for justice, we shall not be moved.

Standing up for justice, we shall not be moved.

Just like a tree that's standing by the water...

- Clear it out! Let's go!

- ...We shall not be moved.

- You are unlawfully obstructing pedestrian traffic...

- We will not stop! We will not rest,

disclose, divest!

- Now! Now! Down the stairs!

Let's go!

- Journalists were moved by the police

into other university buildings.

[yelling]

- They don't want us to witness

how they treat resistance to genocide!

- Shame!

[siren wailing]

- Get down now! Stay down!

[alarm sounding]

- It really was like a scene from a movie.

And, I couldn't watch the video footage

that came out of that night.

It just really keeps occurring to me,

like, why do they do this to us?

These students aren't doing anything bad.

In fact, they're doing something everybody should be doing.

- When Hind's Hall was raided, it gave a green light

to university administrations to do the same.

- Move! Move!

[explosion]

- We just had an explosion here.

They just tear gassed people.

They're coming!

- [chanting] You don't need a gun!

- They got the less-lethals out.

Ready to go off on some college kids.

- These police officers out here today,

that's thousands of student scholarships!

[dog barking]

[yelling]

- Police say 120 protesters were taken away in zip ties.

- After hundreds of police used flash bang grenades,

rubber bullets and tear gas in

a face-off with protesters who chanted,

"We are not leaving, you don't scare us."

[chanting]

[somber music]

- Our dean came on the loud speaker and said,

this is your warning,

if you do not leave now,

they're going to break into the encampment

and arrest all of you and we will not stop them.

They started shooting rubber bullets

and throwing mace bombs

and they infiltrated the encampment.

[explosion]

[siren wailing]

One of our students had a chest contusion

from being shot in the chest by a rubber bullet

without even making contact with an officer.

- At their request,

we went in and conducted an operation to

allow Columbia University to

remove those who have turned the peaceful protest into

a place where antisemitism and anti-Israeli attitudes

were pervasive.

- Our job is to keep people in our city safe

and the NYPD is ready to do their job

anywhere and anytime we're called upon.

They tried to lock us out,

but the NYPD and the people of the city of New York

will never be locked out

and we will always work together to keep our city safe.

- These past two weeks

have been among the most difficult in Columbia's history.

The issues that are challenging us,

the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,

antisemitism, and anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias,

have existed for a long time.

And Columbia, despite being a remarkable institution,

cannot solve them single-handedly.

What we can do is be an exemplar of a better world,

where people who disagree do so civilly,

recognize each other's humanity,

and show empathy and compassion for one another.

We have a lot to do,

but I am committed to working at it every day,

and with each of you,

to rebuild community on our campus.

- We're just getting started.

We are creative.

We have a cause that we believe in.

And we're going to fight ‘til the end.

- Struggling for Palestine is just like breathing.

Because the moment that we stop advocating

and fighting for Palestine, is the moment we die.

We will resist it.

Until Palestine is free.

[chanting and drumming]

- We're just trying to keep it moving,

we're not trying to slow anybody down.

- The individual that I spoke to

was intentionally blocking people from entering.

- Okay.

I can talk to them.

- Please do.

- Alright. Thank you.

- As we prepare to begin a new semester.

- As we prepare to begin a new semester.

- Gazan students have no universities left.

- Disclose! Divest!

We will not stop, we will not rest!

Disclose! Divest!

We will not stop, we will not rest!

- These are now fundamental challenges to

the legitimacy of the whole system.

And you have to think about the role

that universities play in the United States,

particularly the elite universities.

These are the factories that produce the people

that end up running the media,

running the political system, running the corporations.

If you lose control of them,

then ultimately you lose control of elite opinion.

- Israel cannot exist without U.S. weapons,

without U.S. money,

without U.S. political cover, without U.S. Intelligence.

And if the masses of people in the United States

are rapidly dropping their support

of the Israeli cause, this is a significant defeat.

- Thank you to the students of Columbia University.

Thank you! Thank you!

- We love you.

- What I witnessed until mid-May, gave me chills.

It brought me the most joy.

I didn't miss a single video of the students

who talk about Palestine,

educate others on the Palestinian cause.

With true political and historical knowledge.

It is one of the most important things

that made people open their eyes.

Those videos brought us to tears.

We looked at those videos and thought,

thank God, people finally recognize us.

Our death has a price.

Not that any price is worth this.

There is no price worth this death.

This extermination, whatever it may be.

Except the price

of freedom.

The price we paid for the world's awakening,

the students' awakening, the awakening of families

and consumers able to boycott their products,

the awakening of people, children, and teenagers,

50,000 martyrs is a very heavy price.

The complete destruction of an entire country,

that will take decades to rebuild.

The price was our forced displacement from our lands.

I have not seen my home for over a year now.

The price we paid made us slightly feel

that we are not alone.

- We will not stop, we will not rest!

Disclose, divest!

- This could give some hope for

the end of the occupation.

- This is the beginning of the end to the occupation.

The phase may be very long.

But it's definitely the start of the decline.

The world has waken up.

When the occupation ends, the first thing I would do...

Definitely going back to Palestine.

I have this dream of mine

of jumping off the wall of Akka into the sea.

Then continue building a state for everyone.

A state that embraces all its citizens.

A state that values human lives.

One day, Inshallah.