Israeli Professor at Columbia University: 'This Is 1938'

An assistant professor at Columbia University, Shai Davidai, has been barred from the area of Columbia's campus where anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protests are taking place. The university's COO claims the barring is to "maintain the safety of the community." Which community?

My colleague Jeff Charles discussed the issue as it unfolded on Monday.

Previously on RedState: Shocking Twist at Columbia: Jewish Prof Denied Entry to Campus, Stopped From Holding Pro-Israel Rally

Jeff noted:

It looks like those in the "Liberated Zone" encampment at Columbia University are now the ones calling the shots with campus administrators. On Monday outspoken Jewish professor Shai Davidai learned his access card had been deactivated when he arrived on campus to lead a pro-Israel demonstration. This development comes as the school has struggled to address the rise of antisemitism on campus.

Professor Davidai has been speaking out about the university's actions since the denial. Davidai is an Israeli citizen. His intent in entering the campus was to hold a "peaceful sit-in" as a counter-protest, which he was denied. Davidai responded on X, noting "This is 1938."

Earlier today, @Columbia University refused to let me onto campus.

Why? Because they cannot protect my safety as a Jewish professor.

This is 1938.
— Shai Davidai (@ShaiDavidai) April 22, 2024

In 1938, Jewish faculty members were expelled from German universities. There is a difference; Davidai was not removed from his position, and he still has access to the branch campus where he teaches at the business school. Also, as of now, antisemitism is not the official policy of the government. But at Columbia? One could argue that by allowing the openly anti-semitic occupation to continue, they are passively aiding the protesters. This move by Columbia, a university that accepts federal funding, is capricious and unfair.

At the university gates, Davidai, who has emerged as a vocal and controversial supporter of Jewish students on campus since shortly after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, addressed a crowd of people who had assembled there.
“I have not just a civil right as a Jewish person to be on campus, I have a right as a professor employed by the university to be on campus,” Davidai said at the entrance, as supporters shouted “shame” and students watched from inside the university fence. “Being Jewish in public has become a political statement,” Davidai said. “It’s not a privilege, it’s a right, and they’re not allowing me that right.”

American universities were once bastions of intellectual exchange, but that seems like a long time ago now.

Chaotic Scene As NYPD Descends Upon NYU in Riot Gear, Arrests Dozens of Pro-Hamas Extremists

There is a clear distinction between a Jewish professor organizing a sit-in and the rhetoric coming out of the pro-Hamas protestors at Columbia. Even as members of Congress were speaking at the university about the troubling (read: virulently antisemitic) rhetoric coming out of the protests, the shouts in the background sounded a lot like incitement.

Chants of “intifada revolution” from protesters outside the campus gates were audible as the Congress members delivered their statements. The group of several dozen protesters carried signs with the images of Palestinian terrorists on them, including Zakaria Zubeidi, who is incarcerated in an Israeli prison for attacks on Israeli civilians, and Mahmoud al-Arida, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member serving a life sentence. The two were among six inmates who were part of a notorious jailbreak in September 2021, before being captured within two weeks of their escape.

The protestors, the pro-Hamas protestors - let's call it what them what they are - are advocates for convicted terrorists. They are calling for an intifada - for Israel to be swept into the sea. This is beyond the bounds of freedom of expression. These statements are a clear incitement, advocating for the destruction of an American ally.

Columbia has the opportunity to send a message here. The United States, in fact, has the opportunity to send a message here. The university can do its part by expelling every student calling for violence, intifada, or revolution on campus. Expel them and bar them from the grounds. The U.S. can do its part by revoking the academic visas of any of these people who are not American citizens and deporting them. Let them go agitate in their own country.

Let's be honest, though; neither of these things is going to happen. While we aren't at the point of Munich in 1938 - antisemitism is not a matter of official government policy - the trend in American academia and in our major cities is disturbing. We can deal with it now - or we can deal with it later after things get worse.