NYC activists slam DA Bragg for dropping charges against anti-Israel Columbia protesters: ‘A betrayal’
Dozens of protesters swarmed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office building Monday to rip him for nixing charges against members of the anti-Israel mob that attacked Columbia University — calling the move “a betrayal.”
The demonstrators said that letting many of the rampaging protesters off scot-free sets “a strikingly dangerous precedent” — and called on the US Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute the crimes if the lefty DA won’t.
“What Alvin Bragg is saying to all New Yorkers who follow the law is if you conceal your identity, if you harass Jews long enough, if you break property, if you take maintenance workers hostage, if you do that, you will not be prosecuted,” seethed activist protester and Harvard University grad student Shabbos Kestenbaum.
“That is un-American. That is antisemitic. And that is unacceptable in the great city of New York.”
A Jewish Columbia student, Yola Ashkenasie, called Bragg’s decision to cut breaks for many of the protesters who seized a building there in April “a betrayal of the safety and trust of all New Yorkers like myself.
“As a student, I witnessed the chaos and fear that gripped our campus,” said Ashkenasie, who joined Kestenbaum and about 50 other protesters to converge outside the DA’s office waving US flags, displaying signs with slogans such as “You can prosecute Trump but not masked Jew haters?” and chanting, “Bragg, Bragg punish the crime, make these criminals do their time!”
“Students, especially those who lived on campus, feared for their safety, unsure if they or their dorm rooms were targets,” Ashkenasie said of the crisis. “Personally, I did not return to campus until graduation because of how physically aggressive and completely out of hand this incident became.”
Michelle Ahdoot, director of the group End Jew Hatred, said, “These criminals need trial and consequences.
“Alvin Bragg’s failure to impose consequences on these criminals, on these very anarchists, is paving the way for lawlessness everywhere.
“And if Bragg isn’t doing his job and refuses to prosecute for whatever reason, we don’t care what the reason is, then we’re asking the DOJ to take over— both to investigate and prosecute these crimes and to investigate Braggs’s failure to protect civil rights of minority New Yorkers, our Jewish civil rights,” Ahdoot said.
Bragg said last week that 31 of the 46 anti-Israeli demonstrators busted by police over the seized building would have their charges dropped — despite the fact that the mob had broken windows and furniture and allegedly threatened people as they illegally stormed historic Hamilton Hall.
Prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to proceed with even criminal trespassing charges against those who got off.
Monday’s anti-Bragg protesters said that cutting most of the demonstrators loose sends a message to the Jewish community, which has increasingly been the target of antisemitic attacks since Hamas terrorists pulled off a deadly sneak assault on the Jewish State Oct. 7, sparking a horrendous new Mideast war.
“District Attorney Bragg has set a strikingly dangerous precedent. He has given a free pass to those who violently and systematically bring chaos to our streets and our campus,” said Columbia student Eden Yadegar.
Columbia Professor Shai Davidai said, ”I’m appalled as a father.
“I’m appalled as a Jewish man. And I’m appalled as a taxpayer. This is what we pay for. We pay for that guy to do his job, and he refused to do it,” Davidai said of Bragg.
“It could be one of two things he gets to decide for himself. He’s either a coward or an antisemite.
“What I’ve been seeing all around the country is not just scary,” the college teacher said. “It’s disgraceful, because once again, once again, we Jews are left to fend for ourselves.”
Nassau County GOP legislator Mazi Pilip, who joined the protesters outside the DA’s office, called Bragg’s decision “unbelievable” and “unacceptable.”
“In Nassau County, we don’t play games,” Pilip told the crowd. “We are holding [people] accountable. We are respecting the law. We are supporting our law enforcement.
“Enough is enough,” she added. “Alvin Bragg, shame on you. History will remember this.”
A rep for Bragg’s office said in an email to The Post on Monday, “We bring charges based on the facts, evidence, and what is provable in a court of law, and the Office continues to prosecute an array of cases stemming from campus protests.
“As we said in court, the defendants whose cases were dismissed had no criminal history and there was extremely limited video evidence, which made it challenging to determine the specific actions of each individual.”
The representative also noted that Bragg recently attended a Lower Manhattan exhibition on the Oct. 7 massacre commemorating one attack that day, on the Nova Music Festival, in which about 370 innocent people died.
The Columbia encampment was just one of many anti-Israel protests throughout the Big Apple and the nation, with mobs also staging rowdy marches that sought to fuel unrest.
