More than 100 protesters gathered outside a Columbia University building Tuesday evening in response to an appearance from former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the university’s student newspaper reported.
Columbia/Barnard Hillel, the School of International and Public Affairs’ Institute of Global Politics, and the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life organized the event with Bennett in New York City.
“The discussion was an important part of our ongoing mission to empower our students to explore, learn, and grow intellectually,” Brian Cohen, spokesperson for the Columbia’s Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, said in a statement to Fox News Digital about Bennett’s visit. “The event proceeded without disruption. Unfortunately, the current campus dynamic forced us to make last night’s event open only to invited students.”
Cohen added that “[s]tudents of diverse backgrounds and political leanings listened to a world leader and asked challenging questions – as one would expect at a world-class university.”
The protest came after President Donald Trump said earlier this week that “Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests.”
A crowd gathers outside Columbia University to protest the former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visiting the campus on March 4, 2025. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu)
On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced a review of Columbia’s federal contracts and grants in light of recent anti-Israel protests “for potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,” according to an HHS press release.
The Federal Government’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering halting $51.4 million in federal government contracts to the university, HHS said. The Task Force will also review more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to the Ivy League university.
“Anti-Semitism – like racism – is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a Monday statement. “In recent years, the censorship and false narratives of woke cancel culture have transformed our great universities into greenhouses for this deadly and virulent pestilence. Making America healthy means building communities of trust and mutual respect, based on speech freedom and open debate.”
An NYPD officer intervenes as a pro-Israeli counter-protester tries to attack pro-Palestinian demonstrators as they rally outside Columbia University in New York City to protest former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s visit on March 4, 2025. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu)
Hamas and Israel’s recent ceasefire deal, which paused the deadly war, has led Hamas to release 10 Israeli hostages and five Thai nationals abducted on Oct. 7, 2023, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and increased humanitarian aid into Gaza. Six Americans remain in Gaza.
More than 46,000 Palestinians died in the war, half of whom are believed to be women and children, though that number could be higher, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 90% of the roughly two million Palestinians living in Gaza were displaced during the war.
Fox News’ Alexis McAdams and Madison Colombo contributed to this report.
