Students at New York City’s Columbia University this weekend held a memorial for assassinated Hamas leader and October 7th massacre architect Yahya Sinwar.
Columbia students hold a memorial for Yahya Sinwar and all the “martyrs.” pic.twitter.com/x2F6FZswA6
— Eli Kowaz – איליי קואז (@elikowaz) November 11, 2024
It’s not the first time that university students in New York City have mourned the death of the terrorist behind the worst slaughter of Jewish people since the Nazi Holocaust.
After Israeli military forces killed Sinwar in Gaza on October 16, US anti-Israel activists quickly responded with praise and veneration for the terrorist, who masterminded the deaths of approximately 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and the abduction of some 250 people just over one year ago.
Dozens of chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and other campus groups were among those explicitly supportive of Sinwar after his death, reposting hagiographies, obituaries, and images of him with captions like “glory to our martyrs” or “rest in power.” Some of these posts also incorporated additional violent rhetoric and imagery, including of weapons and inverted red triangles (a symbol popularized by Hamas to mark targets).
Upon the news of Sinwar’s death, multiple Columbia University student groups, including SJP and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), posted about Sinwar, including sharing a digital copy of his book and posting various quotations and video clips of him outlining Hamas’s decision “to defend our people with whatever weapons we have.”
Wellesley SJP also made a series of Sinwar-related posts, including sharing photographs, interview content and messages declaring, “No matter how many leaders they take, new ones will rise; The resistance will never die.”
Students in the City University of New York (CUNY) system also praised and mourned the terror chief, in pro-terror content found in a recently launched, self-described “unapologetically pro-resistance, anonymous telegram channel,” titled “CunyResists.” The first two posts on the channel featured photographs of Sinwar and a lengthy message memorializing him and other recently killed terrorist group leaders.
The post read, in part:
“The news regarding the great commander has left our hearts heavy and out [sic] chests breathless. Today, we mourn the loss and celebrate the martyrdom of the lion of Al Quds, the beloved Commander, President, Fighter, his eminence, Yahya Sinwar … Every kuffiyeh drawn on the neck of a CUNY student is tied to the neck of the great commander who woke up the world from their deep daze. We tell the Zionist entity that your assassinations have never worked in the past and they will not work today. From Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah (Hezbollah chief, killed on September 27 in Beirut) to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin [Hamas founder, killed in 2004] to Sheikh Ismael Haniyah (sic) (Hamas leader, killed July 31 in Tehran). Hundreds more will rise to take their place … Indeed it is a Jihad of victory or martyrdom.”
Do these kids really know anything about the actions of those they are lauding? It’s not clear. Some of those interviewed could not even identify the “river” and “sea” mentioned in their genocidal chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Nevertheless, there they are, proudly “sitting in” on campus lawns, wearing their wannabe black and white terrorist keffiyehs and chanting the chants fed to them by leaders who are often not even members of the student body. Some of the youngsters have yet to learn how to wear the terrorist garb and use it as a decorative neck scarf; but others – particularly their leaders – are already there, resolutely wrapping the keffiyehs around their heads, carefully masking their faces to avoid identification.
Those who “mask up” are clearly not ready to face the consequences of their support for terror, despite their loud chants proclaiming their hate for Jews and Israel, however. It’s one thing to talk the talk – walking the walk is a different matter.
