Columbia University’s anti-Israel protesters have a knack for making any moment about them — even Veterans Day.
On Monday afternoon, a gaggle of keffiyeh-clad Ivy Leaguers congregated in the school’s quad to counter-demonstrate as the rest of us recognized the men and women who have bravely served our nation. And some students are over it.
November 11 was not Veterans Day, according to the student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest. No, actually it was Martyrs Day.
“Veterans Day is an American holiday to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of veterans,” the group wrote in an Instagram post promoting the event. “We reject this holiday and refuse to celebrate it. The American war machine should not be honored for the horrors unleashed on others.
“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,” the group declared.
Apparently none of them checked Google, but Martyrs Day is already a holiday — every January 30 — in India, marking the 1948 assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
Around 80 somber students observed their newly invented holiday on campus Monday.
They sat cross-legged on the same lawn where student protesters derailed the school year last spring, forming an encampment in support of Palestine.
Sam Nahins, an Air Force veteran and graduate student studying creative writing at Columbia, said many members of the school’s community are losing patience with the protesters’ antics.
“Their numbers are falling. People are growing tired of them,” Nahins told The Post. “Most of us just like to go to class. We have jobs. We have lives.”
Demonstrators listened as students with microphones read off the names of their martyrs, Palestinians who have been killed in the war with Israel.
Promotional material for the event was covered in imagery of poppies, long recognized as a symbol of sacrifice in World War I. But Columbia organizers offensively insisted that “the poppy represents the resilience of Palestinians, the blood of the martyrs, and the resistance against Israeli occupation.”
What ever happened to cultural appropriation? Or does that rule not apply to progressive activists?
Nahins was part of a group of counter-protesters who waved American flags jubilantly in another quadrant of the lawn.
“I paid no attention to them,” he said of the protesters. “I wanted today to be about veterans.”
“Columbia is proud of our students, faculty, and staff who are veterans, and we are grateful for their service and sacrifice and the invaluable contributions they offer to our community,” Columbia told The Post. “We are aware that a small group has called for a demonstration[,] and our public safety team is monitoring for any disruptions to campus activity.”
Undoubtedly, there are tragic stories of civilian deaths out of Palestine that are deserving of acknowledgement. This is true in any war or conflict. But doing so to detract from the day set aside to honor America’s own service men and women, on the very soil they fought to protect, is disrespectful at best.
Kids attending Columbia have the luxury of spending their teenage years learning, not fighting. That’s thanks to the millions of veterans who volunteered for service. Shame on these students for not realizing — or not caring — that 700 of them are actually their fellow students.
While our veterans gave precious years of their youth in service of their country, these protesters are wasting theirs blowing hot air for a “campus intifada.”
Veterans know what war is because they lived it; these kids think they know what war is (and can also solve conflict in the Middle East) because they’ve seen a few TikTok videos.
By colonizing Veterans Day for their own cause, Columbia’s protesters revealed themselves for what they really are: not just anti-Israel, but anti-America.
There are perhaps no greater beneficiaries of the fruits of Western civilization than Ivy League students. They stand on the shoulders of giants who afforded them the right to learn, to question, to debate, to inquire, to explore — and, yes, to protest.
But, sadly, they’ve chosen to use their rights to denigrate the very people who fight to protect their rights.
