Shai Davidai, an Israeli associate professor at Columbia Business School, has become the face of the pro-Israel movement not only for students and staff on campus – but for the greater Jewish community.
On Wednesday morning, he came to speak on the steps of City Hall in lower Manhattan at the invitation of EndJewHatred, an organization dedicated to Jewish unity and solidarity.
He was greeted with hugs, handshakes, thank you’s.
Two women asked to take a picture with him.
He’d just returned from five days in Israel, where he told reporters he felt safer walking the streets in Tel Aviv than he did in New York.
In the days before his Israel trip, Davidai was barred from campus. Videos he shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, show Davidai unable to scan into the university’s checkpoints as his staff ID had been disabled.
Davidai has not heard from Columbia
“I have not heard anything from the University since last Monday when I was barred because we couldn’t guarantee the safety of the most vocal proponent of Jewish life on campus,” he told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
The problem has, and always will be, the systematic support for terrorism and the systematic antisemitism on campus, Davaidai said. He expressed concern that “pro-Hamas faculty” will indoctrinate the incoming freshman class in August.
“The university needs to do something about professors who openly support Hamas, who openly support Jihad and openly oppose the existence of American values,” Davidai added.
Davidai told The Post he’s been “raising the alarm” since October 12 and accused the university of doing nothing about it.
“We are letting the terrorists run the asylum, and that is not okay,” he said. “The only thing we’re not doing is taking care of the Jews. I’m not asking for special treatment, I’m just asking for equal treatment.”
Davidai commented on the first lawsuit filed against Columbia’s administrators this week for failing to guarantee safety for Jewish students on campus, saying litigation cannot be the only way to achieve safety.
“We fight through the means that we have. We go to City Hall, we file lawsuits, we run media campaigns,” he told The Post. “I just hope the US will pay attention before it’s too late because we know where this train is going.”
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