Columbia student kicked and told to ‘kill himself’ as his US flag is set on fire at NYC pro-Palestinian rally

A Jewish Columbia student was told to “kill yourself” and viciously kicked in the stomach by a keffiyeh-wearing pro-Palestinian protester for carrying an American flag.

Elisha “Lishi” Baker, 21, of Boston, was also nearly burned on Monday while attending a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City after a protester lit the flag on fire, causing his shirt to catch flames.

A police officer then ripped it out of his hands to protect him at the events, blocks from the World Trade Center.

“I knew the anti-American sentiment was rampant [among protesters],” Baker told The Post Wednesday.

“I didn’t know how deadly rampant it was until my shirt was on fire. Personally, I felt they didn’t see my humanity.”

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Baker, alongside his friend David Lederer, 22, and a few other Columbia students, attended the rally to see how truly bad it was after seeing a similar event take place in Michigan.

Lederer and Baker expected to get a few “death to America” chants thrown their way, but Baker never expected to be assaulted for simply holding an American flag.

“Kill yourself, kill yourself,” Baker remembered them chanting at him.

The protester went berserk after Lederer, who studies financial engineering, asked him about his feelings toward the American flag.

The unidentified demonstrator then kicked Baker, who was standing next to his friend, in the stomach before running away.

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Baker filed a police report with the NYPD, and Tarek Bazrouk, 19, of Manhattan, was arrested on assault charges for “causing redness and pain” to Baker’s abdomen.

The student said Bazrouk and the other protesters were “ignorant” and most didn’t know what they were even protesting about.

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Follow The Post’s coverage of the pro-terror protests at colleges across the US:

• Tear gas sprayed at UCLA encampment as cops face off with anti-Israel protesters wielding fire extinguishers
• Stanford submits ‘deeply disturbing’ photo of campus anti-Israel protester wearing Hamas headband to FBI
• Iranian college offers free tuition to US students expelled for participating in anti-Israel protests: ‘Our people’
• MAP: US colleges where students have been arrested over anti-Israel protests

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“Some of these protesters couldn’t tell you which river and which sea…if that’s not ignorance, I don’t know what is,” Baker, who studies history with an emphasis on the Middle East, said of the protesters.

Pro-Palestine demonstrators often chant antisemitic phrase “from the river to the sea” referring to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea which calls for the eradication of Israel.

“The thing going on is an extraordinary lack of literacy,” Baker continued.

https://twitter.com/LishiBaker/status/1780232954951749945

“Admit [you don’t know] and go read a book.”

“We were less safe walking around New York City with an American flag than if we weren’t,” Lederer, of Long Island, said in a separate phone interview.

The group of four arrived to the protest around 2:15 p.m. Monday and stayed until 3:30 p.m. While there, the students stuck close to police and did not wear anything which indicated they were Jewish.

They simply carried five American flags — two of which were burned and one which was stolen by a woman who later burned it on the Brooklyn Bridge.

“Burn it again, burn it again,” Lederer recalled protesters chanting. Demonstrators also called them “genocide supporters” and told them they were “not welcome.”

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The group of Columbia students attended the rally because they “wanted to see the reaction” to the American flag, Lederer said, making it clear they did not attend the event to counter-protest.

“They think they can block roads and streets with impunity,” Lederer said Wednesday.

“The average American should realize [these protesters] hate America.

“They’re calling for terrorism.”

Lederer and Baker have documented their time at the rally across their social media pages, and Baker told The Post they did it because they think it’s “important to document how anti-American these protests are.”

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“It shouldn’t just be a Jewish issue,” Lederer added.

“It’s so sad the world has come to this,” Baker said.

This isn’t the pair’s first time experiencing antisemitism on a mass scale, they told how they often see it on their own campus.

Columbia University President Minouse Shafik, whom Lederer has met with, recently made headlines after Jewish students demanded she address the vapid antisemitism across campus ahead of the students attending a DC hearing.

She told lawmakers Wednesday the “from the river to the sea” phrase was “hurtful,” but refused to say it was antisemitic.

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Lederer plans on attending more rallies and will continue counter-protest efforts on campus, as for Baker, he said he’d take it on a “case-by-case” basis.

He also agreed with Lederer that the “same kind of rhetoric” he saw on the streets of New York are also on campus.

“You feel it,” he said.

Despite the hatred they see from their peers at Columbia, neither plan to transfer to a different school – although they know some who have.

“I’m the type of person who wants to fight the fight,” Lederer said. “I want to see change.”