A vile Columbia University student demonstration seeking to “reclaim” Veterans Day in the name of Palestinians killed in Gaza turned out to be a far cry from the protests that raged on campus last year — as student-vets showed up to face down the agitators and demonstrate their pride.
About 30 Columbia students and student-vets gathered at the campus sundial Monday morning, planting American flags in the exact spot the so-called “Martyrs Day” demonstration was scheduled to take place an hour later.
There they tossed a football, played music and kept up a festive atmosphere, while across the quad a small contingent of detractors sat on the lawn in front of the school’s library.
“The main goal was to take oxygen away from it and focus on the veterans who are celebrating Veterans Day at the Veterans Day Parade,” said 31-year-old Sam Nahins, an Air Force veteran and Columbia grad student who helped organize “a celebration of veteran’s pride.”
“A lot of non-veteran students wanted to join in on this. It’s just about thanking the people who are showing up and just having a good demonstration,” Nahins told The Post.
The groups were separated by a fence divider the school set up in preparation for the dueling demonstrations, and extra security personnel were deployed to monitor the situation.
The “Martyrs Day” event — organized by the unsanctioned student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest — characterized the federal holiday as an abomination, and US vets as killers.
“Veterans Day is an American holiday to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of veterans. We reject this holiday and refuse to celebrate it,” read a flyer for the demonstration circulated over the weekend.
“The American war machine should not be honored for the horrors unleashed on others,” it added. “Instead, we will celebrate Martyrs Day in honor of those martyred by the Israel-US war machine. A day to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of those martyrs.”
But the contingency of anti-Israel students on hand was considerably smaller than the encampments that overran the campus following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
“I paid little to no attention to the other side,” Nahins said. “We had one person come up to us and scream at us. There was one person running on the field who was yelling at us. I don’t know what they said, because the music was loud for a reason.”
In contrast, last year’s protests overwhelmed the school and escalated until a building taken over by anti-Israeli protestors was raided by the NYPD. University president Minouche Shafik later stepped down over her handling of the powder keg on campus.
The ranks of anti-Israel protests were bolstered last year by scores of outside agitators, and the campus has since been locked down, with a school ID required to gain entry.
The “Martyrs Day” participants appeared to be all students, according to witnesses.
It was not the first time campus veterans remained calm and collected in the face of vitriol.
Last spring, Nahins said he and fellow vets were often targets of the anti-Israel encampments — with vile labels like “baby killers,” “murderers” and “infidels” being regularly hurled at them as they walked across campus.
But rather than allowing themselves to be provoked, Nahins said the vets “didn’t break a single rule,” and instead responded by waving American flags on campus.
“We weren’t provoking anyone. We weren’t insulting. We had faculty members give us the middle finger. We had students with keffiyehs on their faces trying to intimidate us. But we kept our composure,” Nahins said.
“That just to me really spoke to the unsung heroism of the veterans.”
