A City University of New York law professor who waved the American flag in front of anti-Israel protesters on Monday was threatened and targeted by the activist elements, he told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

Students, Alumni, and Faculty for Equality on Campus (SAFE Campus) director Jeffrey Lax said that he felt compelled to display the American flag at the protest at CUNY’s Kingsborough Community College because of the anti-American sentiment he had seen in the protests and campus encampments.

"I'm an American, and these people hate America," said Lax. "I want to protect my country and stand up for my country."

'American flag triggers protesters'

At the Monday rally against a now-canceled event featuring an IDF soldier, Lax stood behind the campus fence and waved the US flag back and forth. He said that as soon as he revealed the flag it drew all the attention of the activists. Another faculty member instructed the activists to block Lax’s flag with a Palestinian flag.
Signs are displayed in front of Deering Meadow, where an encampment of students are protesting in support of Palestinians, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at Northwestern University campus in Evanston, Illinois, US. April 25, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/Nate Swanson)
Signs are displayed in front of Deering Meadow, where an encampment of students are protesting in support of Palestinians, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at Northwestern University campus in Evanston, Illinois, US. April 25, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/Nate Swanson)
“The American flag shouldn’t trigger them, but it does,” said Lax.

The protesters called the flag a “Fascist Symbol” and “Nazi Flag.” One activist allegedly threatened to “F***k him up,” and one person attempted to grab the flag through the chain link fence, he said.

Lax shared on Monday a social media post by a student calling for the targeting of Lax that was approved by the Kingsborough Community College Muslim Student Association, which organized the protest along with CUNY for Palestine, Within Our Lifetime, and Palestinian Youth Movement.
“We need to protest against Jeffery Lax and Zionist staff next!” said the student. “KBCC is way too quiet for the amount of Middle Eastern and Muslim students that we have enrolled.”
The CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment seized the CUNY Graduate Center and Mina Rees Library on Tuesday, renaming the latter the al-Aqsa University Library. New York City Revolutionary Youth said that they placed a flag declaring “Long live armed resistance” in a section of the building they named after Palestinian terrorist Bassel al-Araj.
The Encampment said that it would refuse to leave the buildings unless its five demands were met. The anti-Israel activist demanded divestment “complicit in the imperialist-Zionist genocide” and an academic boycott of Israeli institutions. It was demanded that the CUNY administration express solidarity with Palestinians by releasing a statement affirming the right of Palestinians to “national liberation” and the right of return to Israel, and the reinstatement of professors who had been fired for anti-Israel activism.
THE DEMANDS called for the expulsion of the New York Police Department from all CUNY campuses, the end of all association with the CIA and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps-ROTC, the removal of all US symbols from campus, and rename buildings after figures like Black Liberation Army convicted murderer Assata Shakur. Lastly, the activists demanded free tuition and for CUNY not to be “beholden to Zionist and imperialist private donors.”
Lax said that the demands aspired toward undermining American institutions in the campus, city, and country. The reason that the protests often blocked bridges and arteries was to destroy American infrastructure and way of life.“They want America destroyed,” said the professor.
Lax recalled the anti-Americanism that had been present at the campus encampments in NYC, including chants for “death to America” and the burning of American flags. While counterprotesters (Pro-Israeli) would often wave both Israeli and American flags, he said that the stars and stripes were always absent from the protests and campus occupations.
“These people flew the Palestinian flag above City College of New York,” said Lax, having torn down the American flag.

The post-October 7 protest movement saw Marxist and Islamist radicals set aside their lack of commonality to pursue their shared goal of destroying the USA. Lax said that the Monday protest was supported by Marxist organizations and The Professional Staff Congress faculty union – The encampment demanded that the administration protect the union. Lax said he had seen internal correspondence in which the union encouraged faculty to go to encampments and helped the activists strategize and organize.

SAFE Campus was formed in response to anti-Israel and anti-Jewish union animus that he and others had seen behind the scenes, which culminated in a 2021 Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolution. Lax said hundreds of staff and faculty members resigned from the union which led to the formation of his group.
With the October 7 Massacre, a “mask has been pulled back” on anti-Israel activism on campus.
“Before October 7 there was a pretense in which they said that they had no problem with Jews, the only problem is the policy of the Israeli government,” said Lax. “These people, even before Israel fired one bullet into Gaza, they were defending” the atrocities of the October 7 Massacre.
The protests had nothing to do with policy, and everything to do with the Jews – whom they wanted to expel from the US and Israel, said Lax.
“This is really more about tearing down American infrastructure than it is about the Jews,” said Lax. “The Jews are just low-hanging fruit.”