While pro-Hamas demonstrations continued on campus, Columbia University on Monday barred a Jewish professor who had demanded New York City Mayor Eric Adams "do something" to quell the antisemitism that has erupted at the school.
New York Jewish Week reporter Luke Tress took to X on Monday to post video of Business professor Shai Davidai informing supporters that his Columbia card had been "deactivated."
"I have not just a civil right … a civil right as a Jewish person to be on campus, I have a right as a professor employed … employed by the university to be on campus," Davidai said while standing before a campus fence. "They deactivated my card."
Israel-born Davidai said Columbia administrators told him they banned him from campus because they could not ensure his safety, the New York Post reported.
The Post added that many people who arrived to show solidarity with Columbia's Jewish community also were barred from the campus, though some with active Columbia IDs were allowed in.
Davidai said his card still granted him access to the university's Manhattanville campus farther uptown, where he teaches at the business school, the Post said.
"I was just told by [administrators] that I am [to be] let on the campus of the business school where I'm teaching tomorrow," he said, according to the Post. "So they are willing to use Jewish brains, but they don't want to let Jewish people in."
On Sunday night, Davidai demanded Adams "do something" to put an end to the anti-Israel student demonstrations and antisemitism that entered their sixth day Monday.
"Last night, what you saw at Columbia University is open support for Hamas," Davidai said in a video posted to X on Sunday. "Holding signs saying 'al-Qassam brigade your next target' pointing at Jewish students.
"So, here you have it: While U.S. citizens are being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas and by the Islamic jihad, you have students at Columbia University and faculty at Columbia University who are cheering on Hamas," he said, drawing boos from the audience.
"Columbia's administration not only won't do anything about it, they are refusing to let the NYPD in. They are letting the terrorists in and keeping the NYPD out."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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