This is poor taste.
Columbia University offered its students a tomato-based “October 7 Blush Sauce” on the third anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attacks — sparking furious backlash from critics who said it glorified the massacre.
The sauce was offered on the daily menu at the pasta station in John Jay Dining Hall Wednesday, along with marinara, turkey bolognese and garlic oil, photos show. None of the other sauces were specifically labeled as “October 7” sauces.
The ill-named condiment drew widespread backlash after a photo of the menu, shared on social media by a New York correspondent for Israeli outlet Haaretz, quickly went viral.
“So they’re symbolically serving up the blood of October 7th victims?” one horrified critic responded to the post.
“Is that blush sauce referencing and celebrating the blood that was spilled on Oct 7,” another said.
“Extremely poor taste if it is.”
A chorus of critics also called for the person responsible for producing the menu to be fired and demanded that the Ivy League institution be “defunded.”
The signage was quickly removed by a Columbia Dining manager and the university apologized for the “unfortunate mistake.”
“This was a mistake, not a reference to the events of October 7,” Columbia said in a statement on X.
“The date was accidentally left in when the day’s meal information was copied into the menu template,” the statement explained.
“The signs were removed as soon as the error was caught, and we’re sorry for the concern and confusion this caused.”
But the apology didn’t convince the critics online.
“Maybe just say you had a rogue employee, you apologize for this behavior, the employee has been fired, and this won’t happen again, because expecting us to believe that ‘October 7th’ was either only typed beside one type of sauce, or it was only accidentally left beside one type of sauce, is insulting,” one woman raged.
Meanwhile, more than 70 anti-Israel supporters protested against the Jewish state’s response to the attacks in a demonstration organized by the Students for Justice in Palestine movement, the Columbia Spectator reported.
Keffiyah-clad supporters called for “intifada” and hurled slurs at the NYPD, calling officers “pigs,” the Times of Israel reported.
The rally was organized despite the fact that the group has been suspended since 2023.
Earlier Wednesday, Big Apple Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack with a statement that largely attacked Israel for committing “war crimes” in an “ongoing genocide.
Hizzoner sparked outrage from Jewish advocates who said he was “weaponizing” the tragedy.
