Palmetto State News

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has co-led a coalition of 25 state attorneys general in addressing Columbia University regarding concerns over antisemitism on its campus. The group sent a letter to the university, urging it not to yield to calls for divestment from Israel.

Attorney General Wilson shared his personal connection to the issue, stating, “I visited Israel a few months ago, talked to people who lost family members to the horrific October 7th Hamas attacks, and visited some of the locations where people were kidnapped or killed. We must stand against antisemitism everywhere, including on college campuses here in America.”

The letter was addressed to Columbia University's Interim President Katrina Armstrong. It highlighted incidents from April when pro-Palestinian groups conducted occupation protests at the university's New York City campus. These groups established encampments and demanded that Columbia divest from Israel. Despite arrests and ongoing negotiations with protesters, the university chose not to comply with these demands.

The letter further detailed examples of violent rhetoric by pro-Palestinian protesters, including an instance where a member of Columbia University Apartheid Divest reportedly said that the school was fortunate he wasn’t "out killing Zionists."

The coalition commended Columbia University for its decision not to divest from Israel and urged it to continue resisting what they described as "blatantly antisemitic pressure" from certain student groups.

This initiative was co-led by Attorney General Wilson alongside Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin. Other participating states include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas Utah Virginia and West Virginia.