Columbia says student who made comments about 'murdering Zionists' to administrators has been 'banned from campus,' won't say if he is expelled
A Columbia University spokesman told Campus Reform that Khymani James, the student who told administrators they should “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists" has been banned from campus.
A Columbia University spokesman told Campus Reform that Khymani James, the student who told administrators they should “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists” has been banned from campus.
According to the Daily Wire, Khymani James, the spokesperson of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, made the comments during a hearing with Columbia’s Center for Student Success and Intervention in January.
The Columbia spokesman said he had “no additional comment” when asked if James had been expelled.
James is also a leader of the anti-Israel encampment at Columbia, according to the report. The individual goes by “he/she/they” pronouns. James spoke at a press conference for the anti-Israel encampment on Wednesday, according to the Columbia Spectator.
The hearing was regarding an Instagram post James made stating “Zionists in my dm wanting to meet up and fight lol. I don’t fight to injure or for there to be a ‘winner’ / ‘loser.’ I fight to K***.’”
Here is the full Khymani James live-stream that includes his disciplinary meeting with Columbia University over making threatening social media posts.
I saved you all the first 30 minutes where he rants with a friend and started with the school meeting. pic.twitter.com/DfN6mKdlbm— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) April 26, 2024
“Do you see why that’s problematic in any way?” a Columbia employee asked.
”No,” James responded.
James also defended his belief that all Zionists deserve to die, according to the report.
“I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for those people to die,” said James. “And with that being said, Khymani is signed out.”
“I think that taking someone’s life in certain case scenarios is necessary and better for the overall world. I personally have never killed anyone,” James said when asked about the seriousness of killing someone. “Thank the Lord that no one has put me in that position.”
During the meeting, James said that killing Zionists is like killing Hitler or Haitian revolutionaries who were forced to “kill their masters in order to gain their independence.”
“These were masters who were white supremacists. What is a Zionist? A white supremacist. So let’s be very clear here, I’m not saying that I’m going to go out and start killing Zionists. What I am saying is that if an individual who identifies as a Zionist threatens my physical safety in person, i.e., puts their hands on me, I am going to defend myself and in that case scenario, it may come to a point where I don’t know when to stop,” said James.
”There should not be Zionists anywhere,” added James. “People who hold those types of ideologies, the world is better without them. That is what my comment is indicative of, and I will stand with that.”
James said that the meeting is “a joke” during a break.
“They definitely were hoping that I was going to walk back the ‘I fight to kill,’” James remarked about the meeting.
Even after the meeting ended, James said on the livestream that “Zionists don’t deserve to live comfortably, let alone Zionists don’t deserve to live,” said James. “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
“The same way we are very comfortable accepting Nazis don’t deserve to live, fascists don’t deserve to live, racists don’t deserve to live, Zionists, they shouldn’t live in this world.”
A spokesman for Columbia University told the Daily Wire that it doesn’t comment on individual cases, but disciplinary measures may have been handed.
“While we do not comment on individual cases, when there are violations of student conduct policies, they are reviewed and disciplinary measures are applied,” said the spokesman.
James commented on the Daily Wire report, apologizing, but said his comments were taken out of context.
”On Thursday, a video of me taken back in January began to circulate online. What I said was wrong. Every member of our community deserves to feel safe without qualification,” said James. “I also want people to have more context for my words, which I regret. Far right agitators went through months of my social media feed until they found a clip that they edited without context. When I recorded it, I had been feeling unusually upset after an online mob targeted me because I am visibly queer and Black.”
”I am frustrated that words I said in an Instagram Live video have become a distraction from the movement for Palestinian liberation. I misspoke in the heat of the moment, for which I apologize,” said James.
James also stated that his comments don’t represent Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which he is the spokesperson of.
