REPORTER MADDIE: OVER 200 STUDENTS MARCHED ACROSS THE SYRACUSE CAMPUS ON THURSDAY IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINE.
CROWD CHEERS: FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA PALESTINE WILL BE FREE.
REPORTER MADDIE: THE CHANT “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA” DEEMED AN ANTISEMITIC SLOGAN, ACCORDING TO THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE.
REPORTER MADDIE: ONONDAGA COUNTY EXECUTIVE RYAN MCMAHON ONE OF DOZENS FIRING BACK TO THIS VIDEO ON X SAYING THE CHANT IS “CLEARLY ANTI-SEMITIC” AND “NOT ACCEPTABLE IN ONONDAGA COUNTY.”
REPORTER MADDIE: ANOTHER VIDEO SHOWING A SPEAKER CALLING OUT JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS BY NAME AND SAYING THEY ARE “COMPLICIT IN GENOCIDE”. S-U OFFICIALS RESPONDING IN A STATEMENT SAYING THE BEHAVIOR PUT STUDENTS AT RISK BASED ON THEIR IDENTITY AND ARE WORKING TO IDENTIFY THE SPEAKER.
REPORTER MADDIE: BEYOND THE HILL— UNIVERSITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY LIKE RIGHT HERE AT CORNELL— ARE FACED WITH THE SAME ISSUE. NAVIGATING HOW TO PROTECT FREE SPEECH WHILE ALSO KEEPING STUDENTS SAFE.
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL: “When speech crosses over to hate speech, and into hate crimes, that’s when we have to make sure students know we will step up and protect them.”}
REPORTER MADDIE: GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL TWO WEEKS AGO ON THE CORNELL CAMPUS– STANDING WITH THE COMMUNITY AFTER A STUDENT ANONYMOUSLY POSTED ONLINE THREATS ABOUT KILLING JEWISH PEOPLE. THE STUDENT– PATRICK DAI– LATER IDENTIFIED BY AUTHORITIES AND ARRESTED.CORNELL UNIVERSITY JUNIOR MARY BENJAMIN SAYS THE NEWS SHOOK THE COMMUNITY– BUT ESPECIALLY HER– HAVING GONE TO HIGHSCHOOL WITH PATRICK.
MARY BENJAMIN: “I know the environment that we both grew up in. None of that type of language was ever used around me.// It really did show the hatred that can be perpetuated against Jewish students, in particular.}
REPORTER MADDIE: AFTER EVERYTHING THAT’S HAPPENED AT CORNELL SYRACUSE AND BEYOND THESE PAST FEW WEEKS– MARY SAYS UNIVERSITIES CAN STILL DO MORE– TO PROTECT BOTH FREE SPEECH, AND STUDENT SAFETY… TOGETHER.
MARY: Something that is really important is the education on anti-Semitism and, you know, the Jewish plight throughout time so that people really do see them as the minority group that they truly are.”
REPORTER MADDIE: FOR NCC NEWS… I’M MADDIE STELK.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Hundreds of students marched across the Syracuse campus on Thursday in support of Palestine, calling for a ceasefire and saying the university is “complicit in genocide.”
Videos of the demonstration circulated social media of people chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which is an antisemitic slogan, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon was one of many local officials to respond to the chant on X.
“We all know what this chant means, McMahon stated. “It is clearly Anti-semitic and this ignorant rhetoric is not acceptable in Onondaga County.”
VIDEO: Demonstrators outside of the Maxwell School at Syracuse University chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
According to the @ADL, this is “an antisemitic slogan commonly featured in anti-Israel campaigns and chanted at demonstrations."
In a campus-wide email sent Thursday night, Provost Gretchen Ritter and Senior Vice President Allen Groves wrote that the university learned one of the speakers specifically named Jewish organizations, also calling them “complicit” in genocide.
“This kind of reprehensible behavior put a group of our students, based on their identity, at risk of harassment, retaliation and potential violence,” they wrote. “We are investigating the statements and working to identify the speaker.”
Beyond the Salt City, universities are faced with the issue of trying to protect free speech while also keeping students safe.
Two weeks ago, Cornell officials confirmed that a student, Patrick Dai, was charged for making online threats to Jewish students, according to authorities. The news shook the community, but especially junior Mary Benjamin, who went to high school with Dai.
“I know the environment we grew up in, and that type of language was never used around me,” said Benjamin. “It really did show the hatred that can be perpetuated against Jewish students, in particular.”
Benjamin says universities can do more to protect free speech while also keeping students safe.
“Something that is really important is the education on antisemitism and, you know, the Jewish plight throughout time so that people really do see them as the minority group that they truly are,” Benjamin said.
