Yesterday, after several days of anti-Israel protests at Columbia that included the harassment of students, the obstruction of thoroughfares, and chants of “We are Hamas!,” the school’s Orthodox rabbi informed students that it has become clear “that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme anti-Semitism and anarchy,” and recommending that they leave campus until the situation dies down. Meanwhile, at Yale, a Jewish student was poked in the eye with a Palestinian flag; thereafter protesters tried to prevent her from leaving the scene to seek medical attention.

Seth Mandel comments on the absurdity of calling these demonstrations “anti-war protests.”

I used to shake my head when people would accuse others of being “warmongers,” because the term was so often reserved for people who very obviously did not fit the bill. If you want to know what a warmonger actually is, check out those who have for six months cheered rabidly for the very concept of war itself.

At these Hamas-groupie conventions, you’ll hear and see versions of the slogan “resistance by any means necessary,” which is a call for a war of both conventional and unconventional means.

And of course, how can we forget the Quds Day rally in Dearborn, Michigan? Quds Day, for the uninitiated, was invented by Iran as an excuse to hold anti-Jewish rallies. Muslim leaders in Dearborn led a particularly raucous one this year at which attendees shouted, “Death to America!” Again, not very subtle.

“Never forget the 7th of October,” they shouted at Jews at Columbia last night. “That will happen not one more time, not five more times, not ten more times, not 100 more times, not 1,000 more times, not 10,000. . . . The 7th of October is going to be every day for you.”

In a statement released on social media on Monday, the president-elect declared that if the hostages held by Hamas are not released before his inauguration, “there will be all hell to pay” for those who “perpetrated these atrocities against humanity.” But will Hamas take such a threat seriously? And, even if Donald Trump decides to convert his words into actions after taking office, exactly what steps could he take? Ron Ben-Yishai writes:

While Trump lacks direct military options against Hamas—given Israel’s ongoing actions—he holds three powerful levers to pressure the group into showing some flexibility on the hostage deal or to punish it if it resists after his inauguration. The first lever targets Hamas’s finances, focusing on its ability to fund activities after the fighting ends. This extends beyond Gaza to Lebanon and other global hubs where Hamas derives strength. . . . Additionally, Trump could pressure Qatar to cut off its generous funding and donations to the Islamist organization.

The other levers are also financial rather than military: increasing sanctions on Iran to force it to pressure Hamas, and withholding aid for the reconstruction of Gaza until the hostages are released. In Ben-Yishai’s view, “Trump’s statement undoubtedly represents a positive development and could accelerate the process toward a hostage-release agreement.”