On Thursday evening, students protested against the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies event “The Debate over Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism: The Terms and the Stakes,” holding a “counter-class” outside of Barnard Hall.

At around 4:30 pm on Thursday, several students gathered on the steps of Barnard Hall to protest the event “The Debate over Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism: The Terms and the Stakes,” hosted by the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies (IIJS). During the protest, a participant passed out fliers explaining that this event was currently occurring in Barnard Hall, where UC Berkeley History professor Ethan Katz, Director for the Center for Jewish Studies at the university, spoke on anti-Zionism and antisemitism. The fliers described the protest as a “counter-class” intended to teach about “Palestine, Zionism and imperialism, and anti-imperialist resistance.” 

The distributed flier declared that Katz “attends Zionist counter-protests, says he’s not willing to hear critiques of Israel from anyone who doesn’t condemn Hamas,” and “argues” that the phrase “From the river to the sea” is offensive. It further claimed that Katz refers to the “Israeli atrocities against Palestinians” as “civilian casualties in war,” as opposed to “genocide.” 

The ongoing event is the first of a speaker series titled “Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Palestine and Israel,” which the flier states “does not feature a single Palestinian/pro-Palestinian speaker.” Further, it claims that this series coincides with “Columbia’s numerous cancellations of and refusal to host events featuring Palestinian/pro-Palestinian speakers.” The intention of these counter-classes, the flier states, is to disrupt the panels until the series is canceled entirely. 

During the counter-class, speakers interspersed chanting with speeches on the history of postcolonial geopolitics, declaring that “centuries of imperial violence [have] allowed colonialism to flourish across the globe.” Speaking into a megaphone, one participant exclaimed, “Palestinians face brutal violence whether they conduct themselves peacefully or not.” By 5:15 pm, a crowd had gathered to listen to the speeches, composed of both students and faculty. 

Speeches were followed by cheering and various chants, such as “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go,” “Say it loud, say it clear, we don’t want IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces] here,” and “Minouche Shafik what do you say, how many boots did you lick today?”

During the event, protesters held signs and placed them on the steps of Barnard Hall. Signs read, “Teachers against genocide,” “Respect existence or expect resistance,” “Silence is unacceptable,” “Invest in students,” “If I must die, you must live to tell my story,” and “No pride in genocide… the world wants free Palestine,” among others. 

The protest lasted until at least 5:30 pm, the time the event was set to end. Bwog spoke to two members of the demonstration, one of whom read aloud the flier handed out earlier. “The school won’t give us the education we want,” one of them said. “So we’re bringing it to the students ourselves.” 

Barnard Hall via Bwarchives