Columbia Bans Protest Leader Over Anti-Zionist Statement

Columbia University is confirming that Khymani James, an organizer of pro-Palestinian protests at the school, has been banned from its campus after a video surfaced where he is shown declaring that "Zionists don't deserve to live" and that people should be "grateful that I'm not just going out and murdering Zionists."

The video has recently surfaced from earlier this year, with James making the comments in January, at about the same time he and school officials met about a social media post he'd written about fighting a Zionist, reports The Hill.

"I don’t fight to injure or for there to be a winner or a loser, I fight to kill," he wrote in the social media post. 

James, in a post on X Friday, apologized for his heated language, stating that his comments were "wrong" and that everybody "deserves to feel safe without qualification."

However, he also claimed that "far-right agitators" went through months of his social media posts and found one that they edited "without context."

"I am frustrated that words I said in an Instagram live video have become a distraction from the movement for Palestinian liberation," James added. "I misspoke in the heat of the moment, for which I apologize."

The White House Friday strongly criticized James' comments, calling them "dangerous" and appalling."

"These dangerous, appalling statements turn the stomach and should serve as a wakeup call. It is hideous to advocate for the murder of Jews," White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. "President [Joe] Biden has been clear that violent rhetoric, hate speech, and antisemitic remarks have no place in America whatsoever, and he will always stand against them."

Columbia's move to ban James comes as protests over the Israel-Hamas war and the Gaza humanitarian crisis continue to grow. 

The White House has also condemned calls for “violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students."

"While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly Antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous — they have absolutely no place on any college campus, or anywhere in the United States of America," Bates said last weekend in a statement.

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