Williams College Pre-Commencement Crashed by Pro-Hamas Vandal

A Williams College student has been charged with vandalism and resisting arrest for an incident this past weekend in which pro-Hamas graffiti was sprayed on campus property and an American flag was displaced by a Palestinian one.

The student, 20-year-old Falls Church, Virginia, native Liam Carey, tied himself to a flagpole at the scene of the crime in Massachusetts, according to The Berkshire Eagle, a local paper. Having been discovered just hours before Williams College was to hold its annual commencement activities, he represents the latest attempt of a pro-Hamas activist to hijack the final weeks of the school year with a public gesture.

According to the Eagle, the incident was afforded passing recognition during President Maud Mandel’s speech, in which she hinted at “some protest activities this weekend.”

“Today is a time for seniors to feel good about their accomplishments, and families and friends are here from around the world to celebrate,” Mandel continued. “So, I won’t go on at length, but I wanted to acknowledge that broader context that we are all involved in right now. We’ll no doubt go back to those discussions, but I hope today we can all come together and honor the spirit of this commencement celebration.”

During the ceremony, however, Brodie Joseph Leo, who graduated with dual degrees in Arabic and environmental science, commandeered a microphone after receiving his diploma to scream “Free Palestine,” the Eagle said. The perpetrators of both the firebombing of a pro-Israel rally in Colorado earlier this month and the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, last month shouted “Free Palestine” during or after the attack, according to federal authorities.

Williams College was the latest school to be targeted by pro-Hamas activists at the end of the academic year.

In May, a pro-Hamas group at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, which calls itself the “New Deal Coalition” (NDC) occupied the anteroom of the Parkhurst Hall administrative building but limited the demonstration to business hours, as its members went home when it was shuttered at 6 pm. Before leaving the building, however, the group contributed to injuries sustained by a member of President Sian Beilock’s staff and an officer of the school’s Department of Safety and Security officer, according to The Dartmouth, the college’s official campus newspaper.

College deans Anne Hudak and Eric Ramsey have since vowed to hold the group, which included non-students, accountable.

At Yale University, a pro-Hamas group moved to cap off the year with a hunger strike, choosing to starve themselves inside an administrative building in lieu of establishing an illegal encampment.

Yale administrators refused to meet with the students for a discussion of their demands that the university’s endowment be divested of any ties to Israel, as well as companies that do business with it, according to the Yale Daily News. On the fourth day of the demonstration, Yale student affairs dean Melanie Boyd briefly approached the students at the site of their demonstration, Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, advising them to leave the space because “the administration does not intend to hold any additional meetings.”

The group ended the hunger strike after just ten days, citing “deteriorating health conditions.”

In New York City, pro-Hamas students clashed with police during an unauthorized demonstration at City University of New York, Brooklyn College, continuing a series of days in which law enforcement has been deployed to quell extremist disturbances.

As seen in footage captured by “FreedomNews.TV,” students rocked officers with blow after blow to obstruct their being arrested for trespassing, prompting as many as six others to rush in to help with detaining one person at a time. The melees were unlike any seen on a US college campus this semester.

Reportedly, the aim of the group was to establish a pro-Hamas encampment on the East Quad section of campus, which they called a “Liberated Zone,” and several reports said that it attempted to block the entrance to the Tanger Hillel House after being prevented from doing so. FreedomNews captured several more fights between protesters and officers which were filmed in front of the Hillel building, where Jewish students socialize and seek support from their community.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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