Day 534 - Why Columbia U is a lightning rod for anti-Israel activism

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute
audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and
the Jewish world.


NY correspondent Luke Tress joins host
Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing.


Columbia University has agreed to a series of changes demanded by
the Trump Administration as a precondition for restoring $400
million in federal funding the government pulled this month over
the school’s handling of antisemitism on campus amid
pro-Palestinian protests against Israel. Tress has been covering
the anti-Israel protests that have erupted since October 7, 2023,
when Hamas slaughtered 1,200 in southern Israel. We speak about
new measures that Columbia is taking — especially the restriction
of face masks — and discuss whether they will change the
intensity of the protests.


Relatedly, on Friday, detained Columbia University student
activist Mahmoud Khalil appeared briefly in immigration court at
a remote Louisiana detention center as his lawyers fight in
multiple venues to try to free him. We discuss the continued
debate within the Jewish community over immigration rights and
free speech, versus the safety of Jewish students on campus.


Finally, we speak about a trend among US Jews who are looking for
increased self-protection through a variety of measures,
including taking self-defense courses such as the Israeli martial
art, Krav Maga, or, as in a piece we recently published, highly
trained -- and highly expensive -- protection dogs.


Please see today's ongoing liveblog for
more updates.


For further reading:


Columbia agrees to Trump administration’s demands to
address campus antisemitism


Detained anti-Israel activist Khalil appears in Louisiana
court as deportation looms


Columbia University expels anti-Israel students for last
year’s building takeover


Another Columbia anti-Israel protester arrested, 3rd
‘self-deports’, US feds say


US-Israeli company sells $125k protection dogs to Jews
worried about security


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podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.


ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE: Protesters rally in support of detained
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil outside Columbia University
in New York on March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)


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