After individuals were denied access to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment due to attempting to film inside, they attested to experiencing antisemitism on behalf of pro-Palestine demonstrators.

Individuals Recording Denied Access to Encampment

At 10:30 pm on Sunday, April 21, the Gaza Solidarity Encampment held their first general assembly meeting. Ahead of this meeting, three people walked onto the Encampment with phones recording at their hips. After being noticed, they were approached by a group of students. According to a student who interfered with the recording individuals, “They just walked on to our Encampment, refused to read the community guidelines [or] agree to them.”

At the general assembly, organizers mentioned that as part of the Encampment onboarding process and one of the guidelines to enter, individuals must read and accept the community guidelines. When Bwog asked members of the Encampment if we could enter to report, we were not instructed to read the community guidelines, nor were told it was a requirement. However, we were asked if we had been at the Encampment before, which we attested to. Bwog was present at the scene and observed the following interactions. 

On Sunday evening, the representatives from the Encampment stated to the recording individuals, “We ask that you please respect our privacy and community guidelines which you have so far disrespected, and leave our camp.” The instance of disrespect likely includes the video recording, as the Encampment community guidelines state, “We commit to never photograph or videotape another community member without their affirmative consent.” After being asked to leave, one of the people recording reportedly responded, “Fuck the community guidelines.”

As the entering individuals were repeatedly asked to stop recording, they continued walking into the Encampment. One student demonstrator subsequently announced to the Encampment, “We have Zionists who have entered the camp.” The demonstrator asked members to create a human chain “so that [the recording individuals] do not pass this point and infringe upon our privacy and try to disrupt our community.”

The Encampment demonstrator then took a step forward, forming the human chain. One recording individual then made a statement to the crowd that he never stated himself to be a Zionist. 

In an attempt to de-escalate the situation, a small group of student demonstrators began to address the three recording individuals. One student Encampment member asked one recording individual why he came into the encampment. He responded, “To be honest… I don’t even know what to ask you. Thank you for all the welcome.” When then asked to have a chat on the side, he responded, “Excuse me, I have never had such a crowd and I am going to bask in it.” 

Eventually, the students in the chain began to sing “We Shall Not Be Moved.” While the conversation continued between student Encampment demonstrators and the three recording individuals, the latter laughed and made remarks, including, “We lowkey have a sick video.” They continued, “We aren’t Zionists.”

Student Encampment demonstrators continued speaking to the recording individuals, asking them,  “Please leave, because you are not respecting the safety” of the Encampment. 

Viral Post and Response

In a viral post, journalist Neria Kraus wrote, “The undergrad who filmed… told me: ‘We didn’t say a word. My friend had a Jewish star necklace. All of the sudden we’re surrounded, they’ve been circling us, threatening us.’” 

Another video, credited to Columbia Spectator writer Jessica Schwalb, was captioned, “This is what happens when you walk onto @Columbia Gaza Solidarity encampment… happened just now.” In this video, members of the Encampment are shown forming the human chain and asking the recording individuals to leave.

Schwalb claimed to Kraus that her friend had a Jewish star necklace. Bwog noted that while one of the students appeared to have a necklace, they could not confirm the emblem, nor can any Bwog-credited photographs of the three recording students confirm this statement. One of the students with Schwalb later commented to a group of reporters that there was nothing identifiably “pro-Israel, nothing on me.” 

The student continued, “That wasn’t a response to somebody that was pro-Israel.  That was a response to a normal student on this campus that isn’t awkwardly just professing their ideology that they [the Encampment] are professing on them.”

“Do I have a symbol on me? Her?” He continued, pointing at one of his fellow recording students. One pro-Israel onlooker outside of the Encampment commented to the students following their displacement from the Encampment, “If only there was someone there who warned you.” 

Judea Pearl, an Israeli-American UCLA professor compared this incident to Nazism, tweeting, “That’s how they do it at Columbia… That’s how the Nazis did it in 1939. They form a ‘human chain’ and push whoever dares ‘infringe on the privacy of their encampment.’” Pearl’s claim, as well as that of various other Twitter users, refers to a 1938 event when Nazis formed a human chain to prevent Jewish students from entering the University of Vienna.

Following the confrontation, the meeting commenced where the heads of the Gaza Encampment general assembly addressed interacting with counter-protestors. “Do not engage with counter-protestors,” they said, adding it as a rule to the community guidelines. According to one student leader, the community guidelines were amended to reflect this addition. 

During the assembly meeting, a group of Palestinian students spoke, one of them pleading, “We are begging you please do not engage with the Zionists in any way shape, or form. Even locking arms around them will be misconstrued and we are asking you, do not engage.”

The students then had the Encampment repeat one of the guidelines to not engage with counter-protestors. The Palestinian students repeated, “Please heed our call as a Palestinian student group… do not engage.”

SJP and CUAD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this incident. 

Gaza Solidary Encampment via Bwog Staff