Outspoken Columbia Professor Shai Davidai says he feels safer in ‘war zone’ Tel Aviv than in NYC
A group of Jewish New Yorkers wants the city council to do something about out-of-control anti-Israeli protests plaguing the Big Apple, saying the raucous demonstrations have Jews fearing for their lives.
“I feel safer in Tel Aviv — which is right now a war zone — than I do in New York City,” outspoken Columbia University Professor Shai Davidai said at a press conference on the steps of City Hall Wednesday. “For the past two weeks there has been an area in Morningside Heights where Jews are not allowed.
“For the past six months Jews have been pulling out their IDs from public schools in New York City,” he said. “Jews have been changing their names on ride-share apps so they won’t be recognized as Jews. Jews have been taking down mezuzahs, they’ve been hiding Star of Davids so they won’t be attacked.
“This is not a university problem. This is a city problem.”
The group is calling for lawmakers to stiffen penalties for hate crimes, enact stronger enforcement of permits for protests, pass new laws addressing antisemitism, and give cops more leeway to act.
The comments come one day after NYPD cops in riot gear stormed the Columbia campus to bust up a pro-Palestinian encampment and flush out students who broke into and occupied historic Hamilton Hall.
About 100 demonstrators were arrested in the raid, the latest chapter in the anti-Israeli unrest that has rattled the five boroughs in recent months.
“They vandalized my storefront,” said Jewish Manhattan jewelry store owner Chen Levy. “They spray paint on my storefront and they came and they tried to break my door, my glass door. Just saying these stories, I’m still shaking.
Levy said she and her husband were once surrounded by a pro-Palestinian mob as they stood outside their shop “and tried to stick me with the flag pole.
“Then they started to show up almost on a daily basis,” she said.
The anti-Israeli demonstration at and around the Columbia campus has been repeated throughout the nation, as hordes of pro-Palestinian students — at times egged on by professional agitators — rail against the Jewish State over the war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel launched a counter-offensive in Gaza following a sneak attack by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.
“We have these terrorist takeovers that are dangerous, that are endangering the public safety of New Yorkers,” Jewish city resident Jeanne Sprenger said outside City Hall. “They’re dangerous, they’re violent. They’re blocking interstate commerce. All these things are lawlessness.
“There have to be consequences for lawlessness,” she added. “It’s common sense.”
