Columbia University’s Jewish students aren’t under threat, one anti-Israel protester told Fox News.
“I think that this is… a really false narrative that’s being promoted,” the protester, who identified herself as Lillian, told “Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones in New York City, outside the Ivy League university’s campus on Tuesday.
“Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones interviewed a pro-Palestinian protester named Lillian on Tuesday. (Fox & Friends)
Jones asked a series of questions in light of ongoing demonstrations that escalated when pro-Palestinian protesters took over an academic building on campus, just hours after Columbia University administrators began suspending students who failed to leave their encampment.
“I’m here in support of the students, and, I think that it’s really important that everyone who stands with Palestine and Gaza right now is also standing with these students who are leading the way in the U.S.,” she told Jones.
When asked how she feels about protesters occupying Columbia’s historic Hamilton Hall, Lillian said she believes their cause is “just.”
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A sign displaying “Hind’s Hall” hangs outside a building during the Columbia University takeover early Tuesday morning. (Alex Kent)
“I hope that the administration really hears their demands,” she elaborated. “I think they’re just demands.”
Jones pressed the protester on university facilities workers’ claims that they had temporarily been held hostage inside the building following the takeover.
“I think that’s a really false narrative,” she replied.
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VideoWhen asked a series of follow-up questions on the issue, she repeated her response.
After the focus switched to Columbia’s Jewish students feeling threatened, Jones asked the protester if she believed the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians were also a “false narrative,” and she walked away, refusing to answer any further questions.
“This is what you see at these protests. Once you get into the nitty-gritty of October 7th, the rape of women, what’s happening there, they deny what happened,” said Jones, who heard similar responses last week from pro-Palestinian activists in Wisconsin.
Protests on Columbia’s campus have prompted many in the Jewish community to warn of potential threats, including a Columbia rabbi who told Jewish students to leave campus since the school and police could not “guarantee [their] safety.”
VideoTaylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.
