New York college students who support Palestine fear post-9/11-style retaliation

Arab and Muslim students decry lack of leadership on Islamophobia at City University of New York

On the morning of 12 October, a crowd of about 100 members of the Brooklyn College chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and neighborhood residents gathered outside the school's campus for a rally in support of the Palestinian people.

The atmosphere was tense, with a heavy police presence on the ground, police helicopters hovering overhead and campus security turning out in large numbers. Inna Vernikov, an avid Israel supporter who represents southern Brooklyn on the New York City council, flashed a gun in the waistband of her pants. Tweeting from the sidelines, she called the students Hamas supporters" and accused them of wanting to bring the terror here to rid the world of the Jewish people".