Columbia Law School dean resigns amid anti-Semitism scandals

Gillian Lester, the dean of Columbia Law School announced her resignation Wednesday, coming at a time when a number of anti-Semitic scandals have occurred during her tenure.

"I had originally intended to make this announcement in early October," she told the law school in an email, "but my plan was unexpectedly overtaken by current events." Being unable to take the heat in the events that have put the school on par with Nazi Germany, she will step down at the end of the academic year.

Columbia Law School has been accused of anti-Semitism after Israelis on Oct. 7 were savagely attacked, murdered, raped, tortured, burned, captured, and otherwise destroyed for the sin of being Jewish. Babies were beheaded, parents were killed in front of their children and children killed in front of their parents, and all that Lester initially said in describing what happened was that "violence [that] erupted in Israel and Gaza."

Violence didn't "erupt" in Gaza--it was a defensive retaliation to what Hamas and Gazans perpetrated on Israelis. It was a response to violence.

The law school's dean purposely never mentioned Hamas or anti-Semitism, and it rightfully sparked weeks of damage control at the ivy league law school, where pro-Palestinian students took over a campus building and disrupted classes in violation of school policy and the rights of non-protesters to learn. 

For the school's part, they declined to stop the protests and refused to say whether the students would receive any punishment.

Columbia hasn't yet announced who Lester's replacement will be, but a source with ties to the school's administration said that David Schizer is a leading candidate. Schizer had previously served as dean from 2004 to 2014 and is a scholar of tax and energy law.

Schizer recently lead the school's task force on anti-Semitism and as dean, he helped tighten the bonds between the law school and Israel,  by opening a Center for Israeli Legal Studies in 2006 that brings prominent Israeli scholars to campus.

"Making him dean again will send a clear message to the anti-Semites," the source said. "He did the job very successfully before, everyone loved him, and there were no riots."

The law school has not commented on whether Schizer will get the appointment again.

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Hamas had to stop Gazan civilians from killing the returning Jewish hostages

Another round of Israeli hostages were released by Hamas in the Gaza Strip Tuesday, making it the fifth round of an extended six day cease-fire. Not one American was released today out of the twelve who were released.

As they were taken for release to the Red Cross, with Israel as their final destination, the hostages traveled through Gaza and were confronted by violent Palestinian civilians who shouted "Allahu Akbar" and blocked the vehicles from getting to their destination. Egyptians had to rescue the hostages as they were threatened with death and otherwise harassed. 

This should not be surprising to anyone who knows the score. Almost 75% of Palestinian civilians believe the October 7 murderous attack and kidnapping of Israelis was justified, including the murders, rapes, mutilations and torturing of 1,400 Jews of all ages.

Meanwhile, recent polling from the Arab World for Research & Development shows the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank approve of the October 7 massacre of more than 1400 Israeli civilians in their homes, at a music festival, in bomb shelters and elsewhere.

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Hamas's Mashaal Warns Latest Fighting Isn't the Last We've Seen

Khaled Mashaal head of Hamas, said on Thursday, "We will not restrict our dreams or make compromises to our demands," and added that reconstructing Gaza is the duty of the Palestinian national consensus government and the free world. (He sounds a bit like a socialist putting the burden of rebuilding on others.)

Mashaal (pronounced Mohammed) speaking in Doha, said that the latest round of trying to kill Israeli women, children and the slow-to-get-to-cover-elderly would not be the end of conflict but a "milestone to reaching our objective." That objective, he did not verbalize, is to overtake all of Israel, kill all the Jews, and establish yet another Islamic caliphate. He said, " . . . we know that Israel is strong and is aided by the international community. We will not restrict our dreams or make compromises to our demands," he said, taking Obama's strategy when working both sides of the aisle.