By: Netanella Refael

After hearing of CSJP efforts to set up a theatrical mock checkpoint in the center of campus, Israel groups at Columbia University joined forces to counter the protest this past Thursday.

Students worked together to create a central and unified message that they will not tolerate acts like these on their campus. Columbia University Students for Justice in Palestine did in fact set up a mock checkpoint, and student volunteers stood in line waiting to be called through. “Israeli guards”, who held cardboard guns, called person after person to step forward while interrogating them, pushing them around, and ordering them to the ground. The volunteer “Palestinians” were then blindfolded, had their hands tied behind their backs, and their mouths duct taped. Pro-Israel Columbia students, outside volunteers, and a variety of organizations like Hasbara Fellowships, StandwithUs, and ZOA, united to spread the message by handing out materials, holding up signs, and engaging bystanders and onlookers in constructive and
positive dialogues.

Eric Schorr, Vice President of LionPAC, who held a major role in mobilizing Columbia’s Pro-Israel advocates, wrote the following in an E-mail to the community:

“Our GOAL is to have conversations. We want to speak to the students of Columbia and other passersby about what they're seeing and hearing, and make sure to enforce the message that checkpoints have a reason and that is to STOP terrorism, which they have.”