Rabbi Novak to Newsmax: Columbia Must 'Stop This Madness'

Rabbi Marianne Novak told Newsmax on Friday that her son has been experiencing "harassment" on campus at Columbia University during the pro-Palestinian protests held by students at the school.

Starting last week, students at Columbia University began a protest encampment to express support for Palestine and to call on the U.S. and the school to divest from Israel and cease sending arms to the country. More than 100 people were arrested last weekend by NYPD officers for trespassing due to the encampment.

Novak said in an interview on "Wake Up America" that her son, a junior at Columbia, "has been telling me that it has just been a degree of chaos. Even getting into classes takes a long time because you have to bring your ID and it just makes it very, very difficult."

She added that during classes, her son "and his other Jewish students sometimes are afraid to speak up … he's a political science major and they feel this kind of degree of, if not overt harassment, then certainly subtle harassment that is happening on campus."

Novak said that once classes ended she brought her son to Israel in order to celebrate Passover and "to get away from all this incredible chaos that's happening on campus."

When asked about the police response to the protest, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams' comments that the National Guard are not needed to break up the protestors, Novak said, "I have great faith in the New York City Police Department, and I think it would be better if they were allowed to handle it."

She added that Columbia officials "did bring them in once, and the university knows that they can use them."

Novak said that utilizing the National Guard "would only lend credence to these Hamas supporters and I don't I don't want to encourage them anymore. … If they knew that the guard was coming ... we might have damaged property or God forbid injury to students or worse?"

Novak said, "I have trust in the New York City Police Department and if they're called upon, I know that they can do a great job. It's up to the university now to use everything in their power to stop this madness."

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