A Jewish NYU professor lashed out at student protesters as they descended on Washington Square Park to demand a 'total academic boycott of Israel' on Tuesday.
Scott Galloway, a professor at NYU Stern School of Business expressed his views about the protests on MSNBC and said that he believes there is a 'double standard.'
'I can tell you, if I went into the NYU square with a white hood on and said, "lynch the blacks or burn the gays"- my ID would be shut off by that night,' Galloway said.
'And I would never work in academia again. There would be no need for the words context or nuance, I wouldn't be protected by the first amendment or free speech.'
A huge cohort of keffiyeh-clad NYU students and professors filled the Manhattan park on Tuesday, in echoes of pro-Gaza protests unfolding at Ivy League campuses across the country.
Scott Galloway, a professor at NYU Stern School of Business expressed his views about the protests on MSNBC and said that he believes there is a 'double standard.'
A huge cohort of keffiyeh-clad NYU students and professors filled Washington Square Park on Tuesday to demand the 'end of all war profiteering and investment in genocide'
When asked why he thinks there is a 'double standard,' Galloway said that 'it's complicated.'
'I think one, young people have a healthy gag reflex on what people our age think,' he told MSNBC reporter Willie Geist.
'Two, I don't think Israel has draped itself in glory the last 20 or 30 years, they've shifted from being kind of the David to the Goliath.'
Galloway said that he also thinks that students on campus could 'incorrectly conflate the civil rights movement' as chaos continues to unfold in Palestine.
He added that students have 'digressed' as they identify as the 'oppressed and 'oppressors.'
'And the easiest way to identify oppressors is how white and how rich they are,' he said.
Amid backlash over the university's handling of the crisis, Galloway slammed activists for being easily 'manipulated' by anti-Israel TikTok creators.
'And if you look at TikTok, there are 52 videos that are pro-Hamas or pro-Palestine for every one served on Israel,' Galloway added.
At Washington Square Park Tuesday, an organizer who would not give her name told DailyMail.com said they had been 'inspired' by the pro-Gaza encampment at nearby Columbia University where cops arrested hundreds of people over the weekend.
'We were inspired by our comrades at Columbia,' the senior student said, wearing a black face covering and a keffiyeh over her hair.
She said protesters were calling on NYU to 'divest from companies who have interests in the Israeli occupation' and an 'academic boycott of Israeli institutions.'
Large numbers took to the Manhattan park, with organizers putting forward demands including 'full amnesty to all students and faculty penalized for their pro-Palestine activism'
Flyers shared by organizers during Tuesday's protest stated four demands for the movement, including the 'end of all war profiteering and investment in genocide', and providing 'full amnesty to all students and faculty penalized for their pro-Palestine activism.'
Students chanted 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' and 'NYU go to hell, NYPD go to hell' while beating drums and waving Palestinian flags.
Chants of 'there is only one solution, intifada revolution' were also heard at the demonstrations.
Other protesters whose faces were covered by keffiyehs - a monochrome scarf symbolic of Palestinian identity - refused to speak with the press while holding placards reading 'be brave'.
The crowd ejected anyone seen filming their protest while chanting 'press to the back' and cheering as each cameraman moved themselves from the gathering.
Students said the protest was organized by the NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition.
As the protest unfolded at NYU, New York City's Mayor Eric Adams was confronted by a passenger on a plane as they accused him of 'supporting the genocide in Palestine.'
A video of the interaction was posted on X, as the person recording approached Adams who was busy on his phone, sitting down.
The person filming says: 'Are you Eric Adams?' as the mayor looks up from his phone with a bit of a blank face.
'Yeah, f*** you! You support the genocide in Palestine! There are homeless people all over New York,' the angry passenger says.
As she berates him, a man dressed in a suit sitting next to Adams quickly gets up and tries to guard the mayor who remains seated and looks at the woman.
Police officers in riot gear stormed onto the NYU campus in Greenwich Village on Monday night and were forced to use zip ties to detain protesters
The protestors carried with them large signs in order to make their points
'You're always partying, you don't actually care about the citizens of New York,' she says.
She continues to scream and ask Adams why he is in Miami, and brings up other pressing issues in the Big Apple like homeless people, food costs and 'cutting the education budget to fund the police.'
The video ends with the girl walking away and making her way down the aisle as a woman tries to calm her down.
It comes a day after anti-Israel protesters armed with flares and Palestinian flags marched towards the headquarters of the NYPD only hours after officers wearing riot gear stormed an NYU 'Gaza Solidarity' encampment protest in Greenwich Village.
More than 150 students, staff and faculty members were reportedly arrested by police Monday night after ignoring warnings to vacate the campus plaza where the protest was being held.
Only hours earlier on the NYU campus in Greenwich Village, police officers in riot gear were forced to use zip ties to detain protesters, marching them onto police buses after warnings to leave the area were ignored.
