CNN host Dana Bash slammed “dangerous” anti-Israel protests taking place on college campuses Monday morning.
New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers cleared out clusters of pro-Palestine protesters camping in tents at Columbia University on Thursday, only for the demonstrators to continue to protest days after. Bash told CNN panelists that the protests are “antisemitism,” describing them as “a canary in the coal mine” that the United States “is in a lot of trouble.”
“I would even go further. It’s not almost antisemitism — it is antisemitism” Bash said. “And this is something that is on display right now, but the, um, the roots of this kind of devolving, uh, from A to B, go back millennia. And this is something, uh, the, the roots of antisemitism that pop up in societies that frankly tend to be, uh, a canary in the coal mine for a society, and a democracy in this case, that is in a lot of trouble.”
“It is — I like look at this and replace Jews with any other minority group here,” she continued. “And what would the entire country be doing? They would be outraged, rightly so. It is not just Palestinians rights. I, uh, got the, the, the letter that we reported on that the rabbi at Columbia sent saying that Jewish students, ‘you’re not safe here,’ from a parent of a Columbia University student. I got it yesterday morning. And this person’s daughter has heard things like, ‘You’re a Nazi.’ Things like, um, you know, ‘Go, go kill yourself’ and other — and even worse things. That’s not protest. That’s harassment, and it is on the brink of violence.”
“And the fact that these Jewish students feel so unsafe and it is, um, so systemic when it comes from — ultimately, going back from classes that don’t necessarily get policed — that is dangerous,” Bash said. (RELATED: Columbia University President Appears To Mock Ultra Liberal Students After Republican Asks Her Question During Hearing)
Colombia University President Dr. Nemat “Minouche” Shafik was grilled by House Republicans Wednesday during a hearing titled “Columbia In Crisis: Columbia University’s Response To Antisemitism.” The rise of anti-Israel protests emerged following the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks against Israel by the Islamic terror group Hamas.