Columbia University temporarily bans pro-Israel professor Shai Davidai after October 7 protest

By Sabrina Souza, CNN

(CNN) – Columbia University has temporarily banned pro-Israel professor Shai Davidai from campus for “repeatedly harassing and intimidating” school employees, according to a university spokesperson.

“Because Assistant Professor Davidai repeatedly harassed and intimidated University employees in violation of University policy, we have temporarily limited his access to campus while he undertakes appropriate training on our policies governing the behavior of our employees,” a university spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.

The university said the ban of Davidai, an assistant professor at the university’s business school since 2019, is related to conduct last week at the time of an October 7 commemoration.

The spokesperson also said the school respects Davidai’s right to free speech. “His freedom of speech has not been limited and is not being limited now. Columbia, however, does not tolerate threats of intimidation, harassment, or other threatening behavior by its employees,” the spokesperson added.

The Ivy League school in New York was the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests at US college campuses this spring. In August, university President Minouche Shafik stepped down after she came under criticism for authorizing arrests on campus and for her testimony to the House Education Committee about the university’s handling of antisemitism.

Davidai’s temporary ban was issued about a week after he participated in a memorial service on campus for October 7th in which he posted videos online confronting a university official.

Davidai told CNN he encourages people to watch the videos and assess for themselves whether they think they are harassment.

He took issue with the school’s action. “The only professor that was suspended is the Jewish Israeli professor who called out the support for terrorism on campus,” Davidai said.

Although Davidai is not teaching a class this semester, he cannot go into his office, attend faculty meetings or research seminars and is, “for all intents and purposes removed from university life,” he said.

On October 7, Jewish students gathered at Columbia University in an organized memorial service to mark the one-year anniversary of the massacre in Israel.

The October 7, 2023, attacks left more than 1,200 Israelis dead – the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust – and Hamas continues to hold many people hostage.

Israel’s war against Hamas has left 40,000 people dead in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The brutal war in Gaza and its massive civilian death toll has ignited widespread fury, even among Israel’s allies.

Professor recorded videos as he confronted campus officials

Davidai told CNN on Wednesday that students and faculty who support Hamas protested the memorial service last week.

Davidai described what he saw the day of the memorial, saying students protested the event with signs with phrases that support Hamas and the armed resistance.

“It’s horrific and unbelievable,” Davidai said. “Imagine protesting the memorial for the Tulsa massacre. That’s what it feels like for Jews when October 7th was protested.”

Davidai however acknowledged the protesting was, “free speech no matter how painful it is.”

At the gathering for the one-year anniversary, Davidai began to record videos of university employees, pressing them on why pro-Palestinian protests were allowed on campus on October 7.

He posted the video to his X account, which has a following of more than 100,000 users, confronting Cas Holloway, the university’s chief operating officer.

“How did you allow this to happen on Oct. 7?” Davidai asked Holloway in the video. “You have to do your job. And I will not let you rest if they won’t let us rest,” he told the university official in the video.

A university official told CNN the access restriction was a direct result of Davidai’s conduct on October 7 in harassing University employees in violation of University Policy. This is not about one isolated incident or any one individual employee, the university official said.

The university official also said Davidai has not been suspended from his university position and nothing in this action affects his status as a faculty member.

School has seen suspensions and president stepping down

The school continues to deal with changes after the protests earlier this year.

Safik announced her departure a week after the resignations of three Columbia University deans who were permanently removed from their posts earlier this summer after the university’s president said they engaged in “very troubling” text messages that “touched on antisemitic tropes.”

The school also has banned one student, Khymani James, a Pro-Palestinian student activist who said on video, “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”

Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which helped ignite the protest encampments at Columbia that sparked a pro-Palestine and anti-Israel movement on campuses across America, apologized on his behalf in April.

James has sued the university to get his ban overturned.

Earlier this month the group rescinded its apology in which the group said James said he misspoke in the heat of the moment. But James recently wrote on X that he didn’t write the apology and said, “I will not allow anyone to shame me for my politics. Anything I said, I meant it.”

CNN’s David Goldman, Matt Egan and Elisabeth Buchwald contributed to this report.

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