Last week, Columbia University was at the center of the storm of the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic demonstrations in the US. As of today, according to reports, about 200 pro-Palestinian activists have set up a tent city where they are demonstrating; this, after about 100 others were arrested and evacuated by the police. Things went as far as a call by the Orthodox rabbi of Columbia for the Jewish students to avoid coming to the campus because it is impossible to guarantee their safety, and a condemnation from President Joe Biden. A friend and lecturer at the university’s Morningside Heights campus, he was told by the university’s director of operations that this was done because his safety could not be guaranteed. In an interview with “Calcalist” he said in an interview to “Calcalist” that he did not want to lead a counter-demonstration as was alleged against him, but only to read the names of the abductees, and calls on Israeli public figures to publicly support the Jewish students in the US in order to put pressure on American policy makers.
“Almost all the Jewish students ran away from here on Saturday evening and on Sunday, there’s no other word to describe it, because they just realized they couldn’t be safe on campus,” he says in a phone call from New York. “The rabbi of the university, Eli Beukler, wrote in an unusual message, ‘Not only can the university not guard you, the university does not allow the New York Police (NYPD) to guard you’ (the language of the message: ‘The terrible events of the last few days have made it clear that Columbia University’s security forces and the New York police cannot guarantee the safety of Jewish students in the face of anti-Semitism and extreme anarchy’, Rad.
“Unlike the universities in Israel, Columbia University is open to the public, it has an open passage, and for the past week the gates have been locked and they do not allow the media, the public and the police to enter.”
2 Viewing the gallery
Professor Shay Davidei wants to enter Columbia University – and was blocked
(Photo: AP)
The university closed its doors, he said, “because there is a Hamas demonstration on campus, and they (the heads of the university, R.D.) think that if they keep it inside, then they will be able to prevent it from getting bigger and bigger. They cooperate with them, they are currently in negotiations with the demonstrators.”
Describe the moment when you found out that your entrance to the university was blocked.
Davide: “I found out as soon as everyone found out, I wasn’t told in advance. I arrived on campus, and the university’s operational director, Cass Holloway, told me: ‘We can’t keep you safe, if you want to do a counter-demonstration I can give you another area.’ I replied, ‘This is not a counter-demonstration, I want to exercise my right to be Jewish on campus where I want.’
What did you really want to do, if not demonstrate?
“I wanted to read the names of the abductees, it was important to me before Passover to read all their names, both those who believe they are alive, and also those who, unfortunately, are not. In the end, I read them outside.”
And for you this is not a demonstration? So what is that?
“This is a lecturer who wants to be in a public area on his campus.”
What do you think of the rationale for blocking your entry to campus, that this measure is meant to protect you?
“I may be wrong, I’m not a historian, but I think the last time a Jewish lecturer – not just a lecturer from the street – was not allowed to enter his campus was in Nazi Germany. That’s it.”
How are you feeling in general?
“First of all, I’m very worried about the Jewish students. The holiday ends tomorrow, and they want and deserve and have the right to return to campus. This was my number one goal from the beginning. And that’s what I’m focused on. Second, I really don’t understand how Hamas was allowed to take over the university. I Deliberately saying Hamas and not Hamas supporters, because Hamas is an ideology and they push the ideology, that makes them Hamas.
“When there are students holding a sign and saying ‘Hamas – here is your next target’ and pointing at Jewish students – then we have people injecting terror into the campus. And I simply don’t understand how the university allowed this. And right now all of this is about one person, the president of the university , Minosh Shafik. The NYPD is sitting outside the university with police officers who are ready to come and break up this illegal assembly, like they did at NYU. And the only person who doesn’t allow them, who stands between Hamas and the Jewish students, is the president.”
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Pro-Israeli demonstrators at Columbia University, after the entry of Prof. Davidei was blocked
(Photo: AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
She was reprimanded during a congressional hearing by Republican lawmakers who called Columbia under her administration “one of the worst educational institutions in handling anti-Semitism and hate speech.”
“She lied in Congress, so she should be reprimanded (Shafik claimed at the hearing that there are over 50 complaints from students about Davide for assault, and he tweeted in response that this is a lie, and that he has never assaulted any student, RD), but it doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t matter to me that she does her job.”
And yet another personal question for you. Aren’t you scared in any way? Both for your personal security and your academic career? Let’s put it bluntly, watching you from the sidelines feels a bit like dying with Philistines.
“No, it’s not like dying with the Philistines, because unlike Samson – my goal is not to kill others or hurt others. My goal is to help. I said from the beginning that the story here is not the story of Shai Davidei, it’s a much bigger story than me. I I’d rather be unemployed and know I did the right thing than keep my job at the cost of continuing to work with Hamas supporters.”
Is there anything else you want to add?
“The Jewish students here have been working so hard for six months to support Israel and, in general, American Jewry and world Jewry. I think we as a country must ensure their personal security. The commitment of the Jews to Israel should be matched by the commitment of Israel to the Jews.”
How do you do that?
“I was so happy, for example, to see that President Herzog wrote something about Colombia. We have a minister for diaspora Jewish affairs. In the Knesset, there is a lobbyist for the Jewish campuses. They were in the US, met with students, but now is the time to apply the pressure, I don’t know how, but Political pressure, talk to senators, talk to governors. It’s happening at Columbia, at Yale, at NYU, it’s happening at every university, and I’m just one, I can’t fight this war alone. We do have a coalition of Israeli-American academics, but it is a logistical coalition, for the organization of specific things – we have no political power, and our voice is limited. As much as my voice is now more and more powerful it is limited. We need help from Israeli public figures, politicians and intellectuals.
“The last time we spoke was in July, as part of the struggle for democracy (Davide was attacked by a policeman during a demonstration), and we have to remember – we are fighting for a Jewish and democratic state, and Jewishness is part of that. I am 100% committed to democracy, but I am also 100% committed to the state being the state of the Jewish people. This is our duty. We now have to fight for Jewishness.”
The irony is stunning – in the summer you fight against the coup d’état and its supporters probably labeled you as an Israelite. In light of your activity in the last six months, now they are probably eating the hat.
“I don’t agree. One of the first things I thought about after I saw the policemen on Sderot fighting and getting killed on October 7 was the policeman who beat me. I thought I hope he’s okay. So it’s not that I’m going to stop fighting for democracy, I’m continuing and I’ll do it after we We will finish everything here, in Israel, but we will do it from a place of love and building, as we have always done.’