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Jacob Isaac Gabriel
Jacob Isaac Gabriel was arrested after he attacked university public safety officers during an anti-Israel encampment protest in 2024. He also participated in the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia University (Columbia) in April 2024.
Gabriel's anti-Israel activism occurred during Israel’s war against Hamas, called “Swords of Iron.” Israel launched the war after a series of Hamas terror attacks and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023. The terror attacks left approximately 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded.
As of February 2025, Gabriel was a member [00:00:27] of the "CUNY 8," a group of outside agitators arrested for their unlawful activism in support of an anti-Israel encampment at the City College of New York (CCNY), part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system.
For more information, check Canary Mission’s campaign "Outside Agitators Arrested at CCNY Encampment."
In May 2024, the New York Post (NYP) reported that "Gabriel often shows up to Big Apple protests clad in Black Bloc gear — a tactic used to by protesters to shield their identity with ski masks or helmets" and that he was also "allegedly among the hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters who stormed the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade."
In the same article, the NYP reported that Gabriel's "rap sheet includes recent charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, refusal to move, offenses against public administrators, fighting and trespassing, according to sources."
As of February 2024, Gabriel was listed online as a student at the Grand Central Atelier (GCA), "finishing his last year of School." GCA is located in Queens, New York.
On April 30, 2024, Gabriel was arrested for his violent participation in CUNY's anti-Israel encampment, "following a clash between protesters and police."
The New York Post reported that Gabriel was "charged with burglary in the third degree" and "additionally charged with assault for allegedly throwing a bicycle and computer keyboard at CCNY public safety officers."
In a video posted on Instagram on February 10, 2024, Gabriel appeared [00:00:07] alongside other CUNY 8 members, giving an interview about his participation in the CUNY encampment.
When asked what charges he faced for his participation in the encampment, Gabriel answered [00:00:07]: "Potentially five to seven years."
Later, Gabriel was asked [00:01:02] if he regretted his "involvement in the CUNY encampment," to which he answered [00:01:08]: "Absolutely not."
The CUNY 8 refers to a group of eight individuals arrested during an unlawful protest on April 30, 2024, for their involvement in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at the City College of New York (CCNY). CCNY is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system. Law enforcement officers also sustained injuries during the protest.
None of the CUNY 8 were CCNY students. They, along with other protestors, were charged with burglary in the third degree, criminal trespass, tampering with physical evidence and possession of burglar’s tools. In addition, the arrestees were charged with criminal mischief in the fourth degree for causing upward of $3 million in both damage to CCNY property and additional security measures the school was forced to put into place after the protest.
The other arrestees from the protest accepted plea bargains, while the CUNY 8 pleaded not guilty and decided to take their case to trial. The defendants face up to seven years in prison.
The CCNY encampment was one of about 140 anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and used anti-Semitic language in their activism.
On April 19, 2024, Gabriel participated in the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia. The encampment was also in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the university's main lawn. Many participants were arrested and the encampment featured multiple violent incidents, including taking over a campus building and taking a university worker hostage.
Activists protested Israel’s war against Hamas and demanded that Columbia “divest from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation…”
The action had reportedly been planned for months and was organized by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition. The encampment was also organized by Columbia’s banned pro-Hamas activist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the university chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Activists reportedly received training from National SJP and other anti-Israel organizations.
Among the encampment leaders was Columbia student Khymani James who had said [00:00:25]: “Zionists…They are nazis!... They’re supporters of genocide! Why would we want people who are supporters of genocide to live?... Be glad, be grateful that I am not just going out and murdering Zionists.” Aidan Parisi, another encampment leader, responded to Columbia’s demand to disband the encampment by declaring online that: “COLUMBIA WILL BURN.”
The encampment was forcibly dismantled at the directive of Columbia’s president and administration. The NYPD [New York Police Department] entered the area, cleared the encampment and arrested more than 100 protestors, approximately 80 of whom were Columbia students. The students were charged with trespassing and suspended from Columbia indefinitely.
The next day, activists created a new encampment. When divestment negotiations with Columbia failed, protesters illegally forced their way into the university’s Hamilton Hall on April 30, 2024. They smashed [00:00:55] through a glass-paneled door, broke security cameras, threw university property out of the windows and unfurled [00:00:01] a banner in the building’s wall that read: “INTIFADA,” a term in Arabic for uprising or insurrection that carries the connotation of violence.
While barricading themselves in the building, agitators kept three Columbia custodians hostage and stopped them from leaving. When the NYPD raided and dismantled the encampment a second time, they arrested more than 100 students, nearly half of whom were reportedly not affiliated with Columbia.
NYPD shared on Twitter photos of objects the police found in Hamilton Hall. These included knives, hammers, gas masks, ropes and a pamphlet that read [video 1]: “...DISRUPT/RECLAIM/DESTROY zionist business interests everywhere! DEATH TO ISRAELI REAL STATE! DEATH TO AMERICA!...LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA!”
Just outside the encampment area, Jewish students were called [slide 2]: “Uncultured a** b**ches!” and were told to “Go back to Europe!” Activists also said [slide 3] to them: “Yahoodim [Jews], yahoodi [Jew], f**k you!” and “Stop killing children!” as they walked from campus to their dorm rooms.
Also just outside the encampment area, anti-Israel activists chanted [slide 5]: “Ya Hamas, ya habib, odrob, odrob Tel Aviv! [Oh Hamas, oh loved one, strike, strike Tel Aviv!]”, a chant that celebrates Hamas rocket attacks against Israel.
An activist just outside the encampment area held [photo 4] a sign that said, referring to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing: “AL-QASAM’S NEXT TARGETS.” Her sign contained an arrow pointing to a pro-Israel crowd.
On May 31, 2024, Columbia SJP announced that its activists had set up a third encampment at the university. At the encampment, protesters reportedly displayed on a big screen a video that portrayed Hamas as a peace-seeking organization and made a sign that contained an inverted red triangle, a symbol in support of Hamas.
The Columbia encampment reportedly inspired a wave of protest encampments across North American campuses, where pro-Israel students were blocked or restricted from campus facilities. Jewish students were reportedly harassed in several other ways.
The encampment was one of over 140 pro-Hamas and anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 more globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. The encampments were unofficially known as the “student intifada,” borrowing a term associated with terrorist violence.
Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. They occupied campus grounds, in many cases illegally, caused property damage, violently took over buildings, celebrated terrorism and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Activists set up encampments to oppose Israel’s right to wage war against the Hamas terror group following October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including 32 American and 8 Canadian citizens. Hamas also kidnapped 252 people, including 11 Americans and the bodies of 2 murdered Canadians. As of May 26, 2024, 125 hostages remained in Hamas captivity.
For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.
BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents and pro-terror activism on campus.
