Jewish Columbia grads, NY pols demand schoolwide mask ban, calling out ’emboldened’ anti-Israel protesters

Pressure is building on Columbia University to enact an official campus mask ban as Jewish alumni groups compare anti-Israel protesters hiding their identities to the Ku Klux Klan and elected officials, including Mayor Eric Adams, say the face coverings give cover to criminals.

The renewed push to outlaw masks comes amid fresh protests sparked by the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, 30, a Palestinian former Columbia grad student who played an instrumental role in anti-Israel demonstration organized by student groups who praised Hamas and the Oct. 7 terror attacks.

“Masks and face coverings at rallies — whether a white hood or a checkered keffiyeh — are worn to intimidate and conceal wrongdoing, and should have no place on college campuses,” said Rory Lancman, a lawyer, former NYC councilman, a former NY assemblyman and a 1995 graduate of Columbia Law.

Matthew Schweber, a member of the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association and lawyer who has handled First Amendment cases agreed it was inexcusable their alma mater hadn’t yet imposed a mask ban.

“The free Palestine movement is the modern manifestation of the Ku Klux Klan,” said Schweber, noting during the civil rights movement a half-century ago, protesters did not shield their identities.

“There is no reason why these protesters should be able to hide their identity,” he told The Post. “Mask wearing has nothing to do with free speech.

“Mask wearing has to do with harassing and intimidating Jewish students on campus and silencing them.”

Faces shrouded with keffiyeh head scarves have become a common sight at anti-Israel protests at colleges, including at a pair of campus building takeovers at Barnard College in recent weeks, where administrators offered to meet with the unruly group if they removed their masks — but the protesters refused, according to school spokesperson Robin Levine.

“They were banned into COVID an we need to go back to that.” Adams said of mask ban from the City Hall blue room Tuesday. “The masks and being able to cover your face is allowing people to be emboldened,” he added.

“You would see a lot less cowardly actions if people were not able to hide behind masks,” he said. “And not only protesters but people who are committing crimes, going into stores, robberies, some of the assaults that we’re seeing.”

Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres said told The Post he fully supports a mask ban at Columbia and Barnard.

“There should be a mask ban everywhere in New York, and nowhere more so than college campuses, which have become cesspools of antisemitism,” he said.

Torres has previously accused Gov. Kathy Hochul of dragging her feet on a law that would impose restrictions on face coverings during public demonstrations as part of the new state budget, expected to be adopted by April 1.

William A. Jacobson, founder of EqualProtect.org and a Cornell University Law Professor, weighed in, “The use of face masking has emboldened violence by anti-Israel and anti-American activists.”

Elizabeth Coplon, Chief Operating Officer for StopAntisemitism, said the organization fully supports a mask ban for Columbia and Barnard demonstrators using them to intimidate their Jewish peers.

“No one would be allowed to stalk and threaten African-Americans while wearing Klan hoods, neither should anyone be allowed to harass and menace Jews wrapping their faces with keffiyehs,” she told The Post.

Columbia University and Barnard both declined to comment.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to a US citizen, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Saturday at his university-owned apartment, according to this lawyer.

The White House claimed that he “led activities aligned to Hamas” at protests dating back to last spring at Columbia, and more recently at Barnard last week.