Male Israeli student, 24, is beaten with a STICK by female student, 19, outside Columbia University library – after she ripped down posters of Jewish hostages taken by Hamas
A Brooklyn teenager was arrested after she allegedly hit an Israeli Columbia University student with a stick Wednesday night, police confirmed.
Maxwell Friedman, 19, was charged with one count of assault after an altercation with a 24-year-old School of General Studies student in front of Butler Library.
An NYPD spokesperson told DailyMail.com that officers responded to an assault in progress around 6:10 p.m. Wednesday.
Upon arrival, they were told that the victim – identified only by the initials IA – had been involved in a dispute that had turned physical.
Friedman, of Bushwick, hit IA in the hand with a wooden stick. She was arrested.
The victim refused medical attention, the spokesman said. The incident is not being investigated as a hate crime.
NYPD responded to an assault in progress on Wednesday, October 11 at approximately 6:10 p.m. The argument arose after 19-year-old Maxwell Friedman was confronted for tearing down posters of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas
The attack happened by Butler Library on Columbia University’s campus. Friedman was arrested and charged with assault after hitting another student with a wooden stick
The incident occurred one day after members of the school community gathered to honor the Israeli lives lost in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict
IA has with the Columbia Spectatora student-run paper at the university.
He said one hand was bruised and his ring finger on the other hand was broken. In the aftermath of the altercation, he did not plan to return to campus anytime soon.
‘That’s because I’m an Israeli these days. Not me, because I am myself,” IA told the paper.
“It’s because I’m an Israeli under a certain kind of threat.”
A friend of IA also spoke to the Spectator and remained anonymous. He said Friedman approached him and other students as they put up posters with names and photos of Israeli hostages believed to have been taken by Hamas.
Friedman told the students that she was Jewish and asked to join them.
Around 5:30 p.m., IA said he was outside Butler with friends and saw Friedman, now covering her face with a bandana, tearing down the fliers.
IA claims that Friedman yelled obscenities at the group when they approached her.
He says Friedman hit him with a stick before trying to punch him in the face – that’s when he was ‘defending himself’.
“We were all kind of shocked that this stuff could happen on our own campus, which should be a safe haven,” IA said.
“We don’t know how to deal with the situation, let alone that our families and friends are going through the worst nightmare, and we are in the same boat with them mentally.
“And now we have to deal with the situation that campus is no longer a safe place for us.”
The victim in the attack – identified only by the initials IA – is an Israeli student whose family and friends are back home. He said: ‘We are in the same ship with them spiritually’
A cloud of smoke rises during an Israeli attack on Gaza City. Casualties on both sides exceeded 1,000 as of Thursday, including hundreds of children
The charred cars of festival-goers were thrown away after Hamas fighters stormed Nova Festival near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared war on Israel. Israel has cut off electricity and blocked the entry of food and fuel into Hamas-controlled Gaza
One night earlier, students held a vigil in the middle of campus to commemorate the Israelis who died in the war.
Social media video showed students holding candles as they chanted a prayer together.
The exchange between Friedman and IA came one day before scheduled protests by members of the pro-Palestinian group Students for Justice in Palestine.
The national chapter observed October 12 as the ‘Day of Resistance’ and called on more than 250 chapters at colleges across the country to mobilize.
Members of the school community pushed back and countered the ‘pro-Hamas protests’ with a petition that received more than 3,200 signatures.
It called on the administration to condemn Hamas’ “atrocities of violence against innocent and unarmed civilians” and express its support of “Israel’s need to defend itself.”
On October 9 – one day after Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack on Israel – Columbia University President Minouche Shafik issued a statement.
It read in part: ‘Since Saturday, our first priority has been to make sure everyone connected to Columbia is safe and to provide logistical support and other types of resources to students, staff and faculty directly affected by the conflict.’
Shafik added: ‘We must reject forces that seek to tear us apart and model behavior that shows respect for all.’
Protests broke out across New York City. On October 9, people took part in a demonstration in front of the Consulate General of Israel in Manhattan
The two groups were separated by metal barriers and forced to stand on opposite sides of the street as some exchanged taunts and verbal sparring.
The assault occurred a day before planned student-run protests at Columbia. Students for Justice in Palestine called on members of its 250 chapters to mobilize at campuses across the country
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed that at least 27 US citizens were among those lost in the war.
Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group launched an unprecedented attack on Saturday, firing rockets into Israel as hundreds of fighters pushed into the border.
The country was thrown into disarray on Simchat Torah, a major holiday when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll.
Gunmen entered towns and communities outside the Gaza Strip and fired on civilians and IDF soldiers.
In a televised address on Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who has declared the country at war – said the army would use all its might to counter Hamas, warning that ‘this war will take time’. It will be difficult.’
Israel has since cut off electricity and blocked the entry of food and fuel into Hamas-controlled Gaza, home to some 2.3 million people.
By Thursday, the Israeli death toll had risen to at least 1,200, while the number of Palestinians killed in the counteroffensive had reached 1,417.
John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, confirmed that at least 27 US citizens were among the dead.