Dani Dayan. Photo: Provided.

i24 News – Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan sent a letter to Columbia University President Minouche Shafik amid the mass anti-Israel protests escalating over the last weeks at Columbia and other campuses across the United States.

Dayan asked Shafik to take a stand against calls for “the destruction and elimination of the Jewish state.”

“Will Colombia be remembered as Heidelberg? To a large extent, it depends on you, Madam,” wrote Yad Vashem Chair.

“When faculty members, staff, and students at Columbia call for the elimination of the State of Israel and the abolition of Zionism, you must take a stand. Not a political position – a moral position,” added Dayan.

“When it becomes clear that the abolition of the existence of the Jewish state is a widespread ideology in Colombia – the institution’s president cannot remain silent. Silence will inevitably be interpreted as tolerance or, even worse, as consent.”

Presidents of Israeli research universities have issued a statement saying they are “very worried about the incidents of violence and antisemitism on U.S. college campuses,” and they will “help Jewish and Israeli scientists and students to enrol in Israeli universities.” The group encouraged Jewish and Israeli scientists and students seeking to enroll in Israeli universities to do so and promised assistance.

Jewish-Israeli rights activist and Columbia University alum @rudy_rochman delivers an analysis of the intensifying antisemitic demonstrations, now entering their eighth day

| with @natasharaquel_ pic.twitter.com/khf98T2utx

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) April 24, 2024