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‘Moral cowardice’ at Columbia, billionaire says, quitting board of business school

A pro-Israel rally is planned for Georgetown University Law Center; the Jewish community rallies around a coffee shop in Manhattan; and an antisemitic column appears in the “Toronto Star.”

Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School’s Henry Kravis Hall in Manhattanville, New York City. Credit: Here Now/Shutterstock

Jewish billionaire Henry Swieca quit the board of Columbia Business School. In a letter he sent to the dean, which JNS viewed, Swieca wrote on Oct. 30 that “the reputation and integrity of Columbia University, and by extension, Columbia Business School, have been significantly compromised by a moral cowardice that appears beyond repair.”

“The recent Hamas pogrom, including the torture, rape and destruction inflicted upon thousands of innocent Israeli civilians, was deeply revolting to me, as it should to all decent people,” Swieca added.

“Statements from the university are meaningless when pro-Hamas students march on campus yelling slogans calling for the complete destruction of Israel—that’s exactly what is meant by ‘from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea,’” he wrote. “This is abhorrent. Any other minority group on campus would never have to face anything close to this level of intimidation and hatred as Jewish and pro-Israel students experience.”

The #EndJewHatred movement plans to host a rally of Jewish and Israeli students on Wednesday evening near Georgetown University Law Center to “cultivate a safe and inclusive environment” on campus, “while reflecting on the importance of preserving unity and strength.”

The Jewish community and others rallied around a coffee shop in Manhattan after five anti-Israel baristas quit. “Our staff was young. They think they know everything, liberal, college-educated,” the Jewish owner, who talked to the latter about their “Free Palestine” pins, told the New York Post. “They think we’re supporting genocide, we’re supporting colonialism. They know the keywords, but they don’t really know what they mean.”

“Israel has repeatedly told us that there’s no going back to Oct. 6 before the barbaric attacks by Hamas. We fully agree,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Tokyo during the G7 on Tuesday.

A column in the Toronto Star that depicts “Israeli society as a mindless, revenge-driven mob hostile to Arabs and Muslims could not be further from the truth,” per the watchdog HonestReporting Canada.

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A survey found that 53.3% of respondents said that Netanyahu was best for the role, followed by Gadi Eisenkot at 26.5%.
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