A vile Columbia University student protest seeking to “reclaim” Veterans Day on behalf of Palestinians killed in Gaza proved a far cry from the protests that raged on campus last year – as student veterans showed up to confront the agitators and demonstrate their pride.

About 30 Columbia students and student veterans gathered Monday morning on the campus sundial, planting American flags on the exact spot where the so-called Martyrs’ Day protest was to take place an hour later .

There, they tossed a football, played music and maintained a celebratory mood, while across the courtyard, a small contingent of detractors sat on the lawn in front of the school library.

“The main goal was to take his oxygen off him and focus on the veterans celebrating Veterans Day in the Veterans Day Parade,” said Sam Nahins, 31, a veteran of Air Force and Columbia graduate student who helped organize “a veterans’ pride celebration.

“Many non-veteran students wanted to participate in this project. It’s just about thanking the people who came and putting on a good show,” Nahins told the Post.

The groups were separated by a separation fence installed by the school in anticipation of the dueling protests, and additional security personnel were deployed to monitor the situation.

The “Martyrs’ Day” event — organized by the unauthorized student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest — called the federal holiday an abomination and America’s veterans killers.

“Veterans Day is an American holiday intended to honor the patriotism, love of country and sacrifice of veterans. We reject this holiday and refuse to celebrate it,” read a leaflet for the protest that circulated this weekend.

“The American war machine should not be honored for the horrors committed against others,” he adds. “Instead, we will celebrate Martyrs’ Day in honor of those who were martyred by the US-Israeli war machine. A day to honor patriotism, love of country and the sacrifice of these martyrs.

But the contingent of anti-Israel students was considerably smaller than the encampments that invaded campus after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

“I paid little to no attention to the other side,” Nahins said. “A person came up to us and shouted at us. There was a person running on the field and shouting at us. I don’t know what they said, because the music was loud for a reason.

In contrast, protests last year overwhelmed the school and escalated until a building occupied by anti-Israel demonstrators was attacked by New York police. The president of the university, Minouche Shafik, later resigned due to her management of the tinderbox on campus.

The ranks of anti-Israel protesters were bolstered last year by many outside agitators, and the campus has since been locked down, with a school ID required for entry.

According to witnesses, the participants in “Martyrs’ Day” were all students.

This wasn’t the first time campus veterans remained calm and collected in the face of vitriol.

Last spring, Nahins said he and his fellow veterans were often targets of anti-Israel encampments — with vile labels like “baby killers,” “murderers” and “infidels” routinely thrown at them as they crossed the campus.

But rather than being provoked, Nahins said the veterans “didn’t break any rules” and instead responded by waving American flags on campus.

“We weren’t provoking anyone. We weren’t being insulting. Teachers gave us the middle finger. Students with keffiyehs over their faces were trying to intimidate us. But we kept our composure,” Nahins said.

“To me, it really speaks to the unsung heroism of veterans.”