A Columbia student who posted a livestream claiming that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” has finally been banned from the university campus, four months after making inflammatory comments.
Protester Khymani James, who served as a spokesperson for the pro-Palestinian camp as a member of Columbia University’s Apartheid Divest, was banned from setting foot on university grounds Friday and now faces disciplinary action.
James, who uses the pronouns “he/she/they,” said in the video that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and people should be grateful that James wasn’t killing them.
They already faced a disciplinary hearing with Columbia bosses earlier this year in which they were asked to clarify what they meant, but no action was taken.
No disciplinary action was taken as a result of the comments despite James stating that they wished to be expelled so they could travel to South America.
Khymani James, who uses he/she/they pronouns, repeatedly said during a livestream in January that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and that the world would be better if they weren’t in it.
James, a college senior, walked back comments made in the January online video after they suddenly received renewed attention.
“What I said was wrong,” James said in a statement. “Every member of our community deserves to feel safe without any qualifications.”
James had been one of the leaders of the Solidarity camp with Gaza that has surpassed the NY school campus, but protest organizers say The comments did not reflect their values.
The university has not clarified whether James has been suspended or permanently expelled.
“Calls for violence and statements directed at people based on their religious, ethnic or national identity are unacceptable and violate university policy,” a school spokesperson said.
Columbia University senior Khymani James has been banned from setting foot on the New York City campus.
Khymani James made the comments four months ago and faced a disciplinary hearing, but the university initially took no action.
In a recording of the transmission that is now four months old published in X by Kassy Akiva, Daily Wire journalistJames meets with employees of the Columbia Center for Student Success and Intervention through his Instagram post that warned Zionists: “I don’t fight to hurt or for a winner or a loser, I fight to kill,” they wrote. .
A Columbia employee asked, “Do you see why this is problematic in some way?”
James replied: ‘No.’
James continues to defend the position that all Zionists “do not deserve to live,” even laughing at one point during the video.
“They’re all the same people,” they said. ‘Their existence and the projects they have built, that is, Israel, is the antithesis of peace. All this is the antithesis of peace. And so, yes, I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, asking for those people to die.”
Sharing his logic with university employees, James said: ‘I believe that taking someone’s life in certain scenarios is necessary and better for the world at large. I have personally never killed anyone.
‘Thank the Lord that no one has put me in that situation.’
James then compares the Zionists to Hitler and Nazi soldiers, as well as to Haitian slave owners, whose slaves had to kill them “to gain their independence.”
‘These were teachers who were white supremacists. What is a Zionist? A white supremacist. So let’s be very clear: I’m not saying I’m going to go out and start killing Zionists.
‘What I’m saying is that if an individual who identifies as a Zionist threatens my physical safety in person, meaning he puts his hands on me, I’m going to defend myself and, in that case, it may get to a point where I don’t.’ “I don’t know when to stop,” they added.
‘Zionists do not deserve to live comfortably, much less Zionists do not deserve to live.
‘In the same way that we feel very comfortable accepting that Nazis don’t deserve to live, fascists don’t deserve to live, racists don’t deserve to live. “Zionists should not live in this world,” they said, after calling the meeting “institutional violence” and “a joke.”
“I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, asking for those people to die,” they said just before the broadcast ended.
James (seen at right) with progressive Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. They have previously said they hope to be in Congress one day.
James is seen in a previous photo from 2020. The university has not clarified whether James has been suspended or permanently expelled.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration camp is seen at Columbia University on Friday
The pro-Palestinian demonstration camp is seen at Columbia University on Friday.
“I think students who make comments like that don’t belong on campus,” said Brian Cohen, executive director of Columbia/Barnard Hillel, the center for Jewish life on campus. New York Times.
“It is one of the most egregious examples of anti-Semitism and, precisely, rhetoric that is incompatible with the values we have at Columbia,” added Noa Fay, 23, a freshman.
“What surprised me most was that everything was so visible.”
The Columbia students who inspired pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country said Friday that they have reached a stalemate with administrators and that they intend to continue their encampment until their demands are met.
The announcement, after two days of exhaustive negotiations, came as Columbia’s president faced harsh criticism from faculty.
Professors and staff at several other universities across the country have similarly condemned the leadership for the use of police against protesters, leading to fierce clashes, injuries and hundreds of arrests.
The tensions are increasing pressure on school officials from California to Massachusetts, who are struggling to resolve protests as May graduation ceremonies approach.
As the war death toll in Gaza rises and the humanitarian crisis worsens, protesters at universities across the country are demanding that schools cut financial ties with Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict.
Some Jewish students say the protests have descended into anti-Semitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
Student negotiators representing the Columbia camp said that after meetings on Thursday and Friday, the university had not met its core demand for divestment, although there was progress in pushing for more transparent financial disclosures.
“We will not rest until Columbia divests itself,” said Jonathan Ben-Menachem, a fourth-year Jewish doctoral student.
Columbia officials had previously said the talks were showing progress.
‘We have our demands; they have theirs,” said university spokesman Ben Chang, adding that if talks fail, Columbia will have to consider other options.
A protest camp over the genocide in Gaza enters its second day, on the grounds of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, on April 23.
NYPD officers watch as people demonstrate in support of Israel outside the Columbia University campus amid the student protest camp in support of the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, the president of colombia, Minouche Shafikhe faced a significant, but largely symbolic, rebuke from faculty on Friday, but retained the support of the trustees, who have the power to hire or fire the president.
A report from the executive committee of the university senate, which represents faculty, found that Shafik and his administration took “many actions and decisions that have harmed Columbia University.”
These included calling the police and allowing students to be arrested without consulting professors, failing to defend the institution against outside pressure, misrepresenting and suspending student protest groups, and hiring private investigators.
“The professors have completely lost confidence in President Shafik’s ability to lead this organization,” said Ege Yumusak, a philosophy professor who is part of the team of professors protecting the camp.
Following the report, the Senate passed a resolution that included a working group to monitor how the administration would make corrective changes in the future.
In response, Chang said in the evening that “we are committed to continued dialogue and appreciate the Senate’s constructive engagement in finding a path forward.”
