Columbia University suspends outspoken pro-Israel professor for harassment

A divisive and outspoken pro-Israel prof astatine Columbia University successful New York City was temporarily suspended aft the prestigious schoolhouse said helium “repeatedly harassed and intimidated University employees successful usurpation of University policy”.

Shai Davidai, an adjunct prof successful the concern school, has go a fixture connected field and connected societal media for his aggressive, pro-Israel advocacy and disapproval of pro-Palestine students and faculty, whom helium regularly accuses of supporting “terrorism”.

Davidai announced his impermanent suspension connected his Instagram relationship connected Tuesday. In an expletive-laden video, helium said “the assemblage has decided to not let maine to beryllium connected field anymore. My job. Why? Because of October 7. Because I was not acrophobic to basal up to the hateful mob”.

He said helium was suspended successful retaliation for posting aggregate videos online of his conversations with assemblage nationalist information officials past October 7, during a protestation by the pro-Palestine Columbia University Apartheid Divest pupil group. He suggested helium would writer the assemblage implicit the suspension and said that helium was “not going anywhere”.

“I don’t attraction astir my future”, helium aboriginal wrote connected X. “I attraction astir what this acceptance of anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli, and anti-American coercion means for the students connected campus”.

https://x.com/ShaiDavidai/status/1846347729355559296

Davidai has precocious utilized his X account, which has much than 100,000 followers, to impeach salient Columbia prof Rashid Khalidi of being a “spokesperson for Hamas”, and to stock the sanction and email of different prof helium suggested was “OK with rape, murder, torture and kidnapping”.

Students complaints

Davidai has besides harassed and doxxed countless students, galore of whom person denounced his maltreatment implicit the past year. Some of those students took to societal media aft Davidai’s suspension to criticise the assemblage for belatedly taking enactment against him.

“I person been reporting him nonstop since October 2023 for galore things including making video edits of maine and lone present that helium perfectly mislaid his caput astatine Columbia administrators did they yet instrumentality enactment against him,” one pupil wrote connected X connected Wednesday.

“The Columbia concern prof who has: targeted maine for months, retweeted inappropriate comments astir my body, and claimed I was portion of Hamas arsenic we evacuated my household from Gaza (we’re Palestinian Christians) is present banned from Columbia’s field for harassment,” wrote another.

She added that Davidai had, among different things, made a video saying the US National Guard should beryllium called successful against pupil protesters and called field information officers “members of Nazi Germany”.

https://x.com/itslaylas/status/1846329303006695454

Despite the galore reports accusing him of harassment, it’s Davidai’s intimidation of Cas Holloway, the university’s main operating officer, that appears to person crossed a enactment for the university’s administration.

‘Threatening behaviour’

“Columbia has consistently and continually respected Assistant Professor Davidai’s close to escaped code and to explicit his views. His state of code has not been constricted and is not being constricted now,” assemblage spokesperson Millie Wert wrote successful a connection to the Columbia Daily Spectator, the university’s student-run newspaper.

“Columbia, however, does not tolerate threats of intimidation, harassment, oregon different threatening behaviour by its employees”.

Davidai was restricted from entering field but the suspension won’t interaction his compensation oregon presumption arsenic a module member, and the assemblage offered him alternate bureau abstraction disconnected campus.

He volition beryllium allowed backmost connected field erstwhile helium “undertakes due grooming connected our policies governing the behaviour of our employees”, the spokesperson added.

Davidai was denied entree to field past outpouring aft helium announced that helium planned to participate the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment”, a protestation campy acceptable up by students, and called connected his supporters to articulation him.

Last April, Columbia University suspended a pupil activistic aft video emerged successful which the pupil said “Zionists don’t merit to live”. Three assemblage deans besides resigned aft exchanging texts during a gathering astir anti-Semitism connected field that the assemblage said “disturbingly touched connected past anti-Semitic tropes”.

The assemblage suspended different pupil and erstwhile Israeli worker accused of spraying chemicals connected pro-Palestine protesters. At the tallness of the protests past year, administrators doubly called constabulary to interruption up pupil demonstrations, starring to dozens of arrests.

Columbia University’s protest encampment inspired dozens of others connected campuses crossed the US past year. The assemblage was wide criticised for its suppression of the protests, but also came nether aggravated unit from donors and legislators accusing it of supporting anti-Semitism connected campus, starring to Columbia President Minouche Shafik’s resignation implicit the summer.