Instagram bans controversial anti-Israel group at Columbia after it threatened violence
The group warned that ‘Barnard will be the first domino to fall’ and called on its followers to ‘strike Barnard’ in a post featuring a figure brandishing a Molotov cocktail.
‘We'll make it impossible for these trustees to continue their genocidal reigns. Trustees are not untouchable, and now we know their names,’ the group threatened.
An anti-Israel protest group at Columbia University was recently removed from Instagram after it posted inflammatory language that seemed to call for violence.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) was banned from the social media platform on Monday after it published a rallying call for a demonstration on Monday at Barnard College, which is affiliated with Columbia, according to Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The post was captioned: “Barnard will be the first domino to fall,” “Barnard first Columbia next,” and “We won’t stop ‘til you divest.” CUAD also called on followers to “strike Barnard for Palestine,” and stated that Barnard’s collapse will be “an instrumental piece in toppling the entire university.”
The post also featured a graphic of a figure throwing a Molotov cocktail, and threatened the university’s leadership: “We’ll make it impossible for these trustees to continue their genocidal reigns. Trustees are not untouchable, and now we know their names. . . . If we don’t get no justice, then you won’t get no peace.”
Though the protesters eventually determined to hold the protest away from Barnard, their threats prompted the college to heighten security, Jewish Telegraphic Agency wrote.
Barnard President Laura Ann Rosenbury warned the school’s community a day before the planned protest: “Inflammatory posts with violent imagery and specific calls for action against the Barnard College community have been circulating on social media. . . . Any statements that advocate for violence or harm, including the destruction of property, are a direct violation of our code of conduct and are antithetical to the core principles and mission of Barnard,” according to Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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CUAD’s followers met outside of the campus and walked around it on Monday, chanting messages like “Barnard, you’re about to fall” and brandishing signs with text like “Globalize the Intifada,” the Columbia Spectator wrote.
Robin Levine, a senior communications official for Barnard, told the Spectator: “The College has zero tolerance for any behavior that jeopardizes the safety and well-being of our campus community. The measures we took today protected our students, faculty and staff and avoided the disruption of academic activities on the last day of classes.”
CUAD has repeatedly mired itself in controversy for previous inflammatory posts. In October, for example. The group took back an apology it originally made for one of its members saying: “I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for [Zionists] to die. . . . There should not be Zionists anywhere. . . . Zionists don’t deserve to live comfortably, let alone Zionists don’t deserve to live. . . . Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
It added at the time: “We support liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Columbia University and Barnard College for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
