Columbia University Temporarily Bars Israeli Professor Shai Davidai From Campus

Assistant Professor Shai Davidai is denied access to the campus grounds during his pro-Israeili rally at Columbia University in New York City on April 22, 2024. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

Columbia University has said that an assistant professor from its business school, who has been an outspoken vocal critic of the pro-Palestinian protests, has been temporarily barred from campus.

Ben Chang, a spokesperson for Columbia, said the decision to restrict Shai Davidai’s access was based on allegations that he has harassed and intimidated other employees.

Chang said Columbia has respected Davidai’s right to express his views and that the restrictions were implemented due to his conduct on Oct. 7 of this year, the first anniversary of the Hamas-led terrorist attack in which more than 1,200 people were killed in Israel.

“His freedom of speech has not been limited and is not being limited now,” Chang said in a statement. “Columbia, however, does not tolerate threats of intimidation, harassment, or other threatening behavior by its employees.”

Davidai said that university officials retaliated against him for posting the videos of a pro-Palestinian march and that he has now been “suspended from campus.”

Pro-Palestinian protests have gripped university campuses nationwide, with students demanding that their universities divest from financially supporting Israel and condemn the more than 41,000 Palestinian deaths reported by Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. Following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered the Gaza Strip to target Hamas.

Davidai, an Israeli citizen, has argued that school officials haven’t done enough to crack down on the protests, which he says are anti-Semitic.

In an Oct. 15 statement on the social media platform X, Davidai said that his disciplinary action resulted from videos he posted online in which he confronted university officials after a pro-Palestinian demonstration on campus interrupted two Jewish-led memorials marking the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

According to him, the march was celebrating “the October 7 Massacre.”

“I don’t care about my future. It’s never been about me. I care about @Columbia’s future,” he wrote in another X post. “I care about what this acceptance of anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli, and anti-American terrorism means for the students on campus.”

According to Chang, Davidai, who is not teaching this semester, has not been suspended from his role as a professor.

Davidai is expected to complete a training program teaching him about the university’s policies governing employee conduct before he can have his campus access reinstated.

“Education, training, access restrictions and other measures are available and used by the University when faculty and other employees violate University policy,” Chang said. “As in other cases, our expectation is that Assistant Professor Davidai will successfully complete the training and promptly return to campus.”

The Epoch Times contacted Columbia University and Davidai for comment but received no replies by publication time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.