Billionaire Donor Robert Kraft Pulls Funding From Columbia University Amid Anti-Semitic Demonstrations

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said on Monday that he would no longer be donating to Columbia University amid the rampant anti-Israel demonstrations that have engulfed the campus. Kraft's announcement comes after the left-wing agitators on campus have openly harassed, attacked, and denied entry to Jewish students.

Kraft, the founder of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and namesake of Columbia's Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, expressed his deep concern for the safety of Jewish students on campus. He explained that the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" has transformed the once esteemed institution into something he doesn't recognize.

"It was through the full academic scholarship Columbia gave me that I was able to attend college and start in life, and for that, I have been tremendously grateful. However, the school I love so much - the one that welcomed me and provided me with so much opportunity - is no longer an institution I recognize," Kraft wrote. "I am deeply saddened at the virulent hate that continues to grow on campus and throughout our country. I am no longer confident that Columbia can protect its students and staff, and I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken."

The billionaire went on to explain that he hopes that the Kraft Center will be able to serve as a "source of security and safety for all Jewish students and faculty on campus who want to gather peacefully to practice their religion, to be together, and to be welcomed."

Over the weekend, anti-Israel demonstrators could be heard shouting, "Al-Qassam, you make us proud! Take another soldier out! We say justice; you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground! Hamas, we love you. We support your rockets, too! Red, black, green, and white, we support Hamas' fight! It is right to rebel, Al-Qassam, give them hell! It is right to rebel, Hamas give them hell! Free, free, free Palestine!" Footage from the campus also showed the protesters telling Jewish students to "go back to Poland" and calling for the students, who were called "pigs," to be killed.

Kraft isn't the only one who has come out against the hate-filled protests that have engulfed the campus. The blatant hatred seen at Columbia has brought about national backlash and has led the New York Republican congressional delegation to demand that Columbia President Minouche Shafik resign. 

"Over the past few days, anarchy has engulfed the campus of Columbia University," the lawmakers said in a letter to Shafik. "As the leader of this institution, one of your chief objectives, morally and under law, is to ensure students have a safe learning environment. By every measure, you have failed this obligation. The situation unfolding on campus right now is a direct product of your policies and misguided decisions...Based on these recent events and your testimony in front of Congress, we have no confidence in your leadership of this once esteemed institution."

Columbia's administration's failure to act to end these protests, which clearly violate university policy, is having detrimental effects on the university's future. Donors like Kraft have stopped funding Ivy League schools across the country due to the rampant antisemitism promoted on campus, and if university presidents refuse to change course, then even more will join them.