Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian student group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, has intensified its anti-Israel rhetoric and is now openly supporting terrorist groups while simultaneously revoking a previous apology made after one of its members expressed violent sentiments against Zionists.

In a statement, the group declared, “We support liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance,” and retracted an earlier apology for a member’s remarks in which he claimed the university was “lucky” he wasn’t out “killing Zionists.”

The group marked the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel by distributing a newspaper with a headline using Hamas’s term for the event: “One Year Since Al-Aqsa Flood, Revolution Until Victory.” The paper featured an image of Hamas fighters breaching Israel’s security fence, and an accompanying essay labeled the attack as a “moral, military, and political victory,” even quoting Ismail Haniyeh, the former political leader of Hamas.

In an October 7 post on Telegram, the group echoed sentiments of escalation, stating, “The Palestinian resistance is moving their struggle to a new phase of escalation, and it is our duty to meet them there. It is our duty to fight for our freedom!”

The increasingly radical stance of Columbia University Apartheid Divest has posed a significant challenge for university administrators, as the group’s statements are protected under the First Amendment but may provoke federal investigations into campus antisemitism or lead to disciplinary actions if deemed to create a hostile environment for Jewish students. “Statements advocating for violence or harm are antithetical to the core principles upon which this institution was founded,” said Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang.

This escalation mirrors the hardline positions taken by pro-Palestinian groups on other campuses, with social media posts earlier this week praising the October 7 attack. These groups appear to be influenced by off-campus organizations like Within Our Lifetime, which openly supports violent resistance against Israel. Nerdeen Kiswani, the leader of Within Our Lifetime, expressed similar sentiments, posting on X (formerly Twitter), “Long live October 7th.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has been tracking the rise of extremist rhetoric, noting that numerous protests across college campuses and beyond have included open support for violence. Oren Segal, vice president of the ADL’s Center on Extremism, observed chants and visuals endorsing terrorist organizations at over 100 protests across the country. “I mean, literally, there were images of paragliders,” Segal said, referencing the tactics used in the October 7 attacks, adding, “There were multiple chants of glory to the resistance.”

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