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Soph Askanase

Soph Askanase’s Arrest at the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University (Columbia)

Soph_Askanase_cm01_YouTube_Apr_23_2024

Soph Askanase was arrested at the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia in April 2024. Askanase has also expressed support for Hamas terrorism.

Soph Askanase is a Barnard College (Barnard) student who organized the encampment and was suspended [00:17:50] by Barnard and arrested at the encampment.

On April 18, 2024, in an interview from the encampment with Democracy Now, Askanase said [00:03:21]: “...I am with Jewish Voice for Peace at Columbia. And I am here today because I will not stand by…as Columbia’s money is going towards a genocide.” Askanase continued [00:06:12]: “We refuse to believe that Israel is in any part related to our Judaism…as Jews, we are here to say that we will always support the liberation of Palestine…”

On April 23, 2024, Askanase spoke about her arrest in a press conference at Columbia and said [00:14:21]: “when I was marched out of the encampment in zip ties, I did not flinch…because I cannot and could not stand to be complicit in our university’s ongoing support for Israel’s genocidal campaign.” Askanase also said [00:16:43]: “On the first day of the encampment, I hung the banners I painted painstakingly for weeks…”

On April 26, 2024, the Washington Post quoted Askanase regarding the formation of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD): “We realized the administration still wasn’t listening to us…We realized an escalation was necessary.”

On May 15, 2024, Askanese was a panelist in an online event titled: “Student Intifada” along with Omar Barghouti and Maryam Alwan, sponsored by the Solidarity Research Center. Askanase described planning and organizing the encampment. Askanase said [00:40:56]: “...in early November, I remember sitting at my friend's apartment surrounded by cross-campus student organizers discussing our plan for the year…We knew that the student body needed to be radically educated and learn to be as angry as we were. So we set a time frame. We picked April…And we began to plan. Every week for months a group of 20 to 60 of us would rotate in and out of meetings to discuss the encampment.”

Askanase continued [00:43:11]: “...our main takeaway from those who came before us was that our strength comes from the community, from our community, broader New York City, in the world, the one that expands beyond Columbia's gates.”

Askanase stated [00:45:53]: “We ended up picking the 17th [of April, to set up the encampment] both because of [then-president of Columbia] Minouche Shafik’s congressional hearing…We wanted the press to talk about what was going on in Gaza, rather than alleged anti-Semitism…knowing that the president would be out of town and that Columbia would likely be paralyzed for a brief period of time, which would delay the response...”

Askanase also said [00:46:33]: “That day, the 17th, the morning of that day was when Columbia was set to pitch the tents for graduation on the lawns, and we knew that by taking the lawn on that day…we would force them to engage in their demands, because we would prevent them from essentially setting up for graduation…”

Askanase also said [00:52:17]: “the night after I was released from jail, I got in a Zoom call with about 300 students from schools across the country, to give them advice on launching their own encampment.”

On May 23, 2024, at a rally held outside Columbia, Askanase featured in a video from the rally, chanting [00:01:21]: “Viva viva, intifada, long live the intifada…there is only one solution, intifada revolution…”

The term “intifada” translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection” and carries the connotation of terrorist violence, including suicide bombings, hijackings, shootings and stabbings.

Askanase also repeated after a speaker, along with the crowd [00:06:08]: “we will spare nothing, we will give up nothing to free Palestine, from the river to the sea…”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,” is a chant used [00:02:52] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel.

The encampment was also in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Columbia is located in New York, New York.

Soph Askanase
Soph Askanase
Student
New York
BDS, JVP, SJP, CUAD
Barnard