NEW YORK: An outspoken pro-Israel professor at Columbia University has been temporarily barred from campus, a university spokesperson said Wednesday.
Shai Davidai, an assistant professor at the Manhattan university’s business school, had his campus access restricted effective Tuesday after repeatedly harassing and intimidating other employees, according to university spokesperson Ben Chang.
Davidai, an Israeli citizen, has been among the most prominent campus critics of pro-Palestinian protests, saying that school officials have not done enough to crack down on the demonstrations, which he views as antisemitic.
He also helped lead pro-Israel counterprotests at Columbia last spring. On X, formerly Twitter, where he has more than 100,000 followers, he has accused pro-Palestinian student groups of supporting terrorism.
Chang said the university has “consistently and continually” respected Davidai’s right to express his views but that the restrictions were a “direct result” of his conduct on Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel, which sparked the region’s latest conflict.
“His freedom of speech has not been limited and is not being limited now,” he wrote in a statement. “Columbia, however, does not tolerate threats of intimidation, harassment, or other threatening behavior by its employees.”
Davidai didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment, but said on X that the ban was in response to social media videos in which he confronted university officials during pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus.
“He has now retaliated and had me suspended from campus,” Davidai wrote in his Tuesday post, referring to Cas Holloway, the university’s chief operating officer. The post also linked to a video on Instagram that has since been taken down.
“I don’t care about my future. It’s never been about me. I care about @Columbia’s future,” Davidai wrote in another post on X. “I care about what this acceptance of anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli, and anti-American terrorism means for the students on campus. ”
Chang stressed that Davidai, who is not teaching this semester, has not been suspended from his faculty post and that his compensation has not been affected by the disciplinary action.
But he will need to complete a training program on the university’s policies governing employee conduct before having his campus access reinstated, he added.
“Education, training, access restrictions and other measures are available and used by the University when faculty and other employees violate University policy,” Chang said. “As in other cases, our expectation is that Assistant Professor Davidai will successfully complete the training and promptly return to campus.”
Pro-Israel professor at Columbia barred from campus after harassing and intimidating other employees
https://arab.news/rnc3n
Pro-Israel professor at Columbia barred from campus after harassing and intimidating other employees
- Chang said the university has “consistently and continually” respected Davidai’s right to express his views but that the restrictions were a “direct result” of his conduct on Oct. 7
London police using withdrawn powers to clamp down on pro-Palestine rallies: Probe
- ‘Cumulative disruption’ cited to ban, reroute rallies but power granted by concept withdrawn by Court of Appeal in May
- Network for Police Monitoring: This demonstrates ‘ongoing crackdown on protest’ that has reached ‘alarming point’
LONDON: London’s Metropolitan Police have used powers that have been withdrawn to clamp down on pro-Palestine rallies in the capital, legal experts have said.
The Guardian and Liberty Investigates obtained evidence that police officers had imposed restrictions on at least two protests based on the principle of “cumulative disruption.” But that power was withdrawn by the Court of Appeal in May, according to legal experts.
All references to cumulative disruption have been removed from relevant legislation, yet the Home Office and the Met continue to insist that police officers retain the power to consider the concept when suppressing protests.
On May 7, five days after the powers were withdrawn, the Met banned a Jewish pro-Palestine group from holding its weekly rally in north London, citing the cumulative impact on the neighborhood’s Jewish community.
Last month, the Met forced the Palestine Coalition to change the route of its rally on three days’ notice, highlighting the cumulative impact on businesses during Black Friday weekend.
Raj Chada, a partner at Hodge, Jones & Allen and a leading criminal lawyer, said: “There is no reference to cumulative disruption in the original (legislation). The regulations that introduced this concept were quashed in May 2025, so I fail to see how this can still be the approach taken by police. There is no legal basis for this whatsoever.”
The Met appeared “not to care” if it was acting within the law, the Network for Police Monitoring said, adding that the revelation surrounding “cumulative disruption” demonstrated an “ongoing crackdown on protest” that had reached an “alarming point” by police in London.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans in October to reintroduce the power to consider cumulative impact in toughened form.
But Nick Glynn, a retired senior officer from Leicestershire Police, said: “The police have too many protest powers already and they definitely don’t need any more. If they are provided with them, they not only use them (but) as in this case, they stretch them.
“They go beyond what was intended. The right to protest is sacrosanct and more stifling of protest makes democracy worth less.”
Cumulative disruption was regularly considered and employed in regulations if protests met the threshold of causing “serious disruption to the life of the community.”
The Court of Appeal withdrew the power following a legal challenge by human rights group Liberty.
Ben Jamal, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s director, was reportedly told by Alison Heydari, the Met’s deputy assistant commissioner, that her decision on imposing protest regulations “will be purely around the cumulative effect of your protests.”
She reportedly added that “this is not just about Saturday’s protest but it’s a combination of all the impacts of all the processions so far,” referencing “serious disruption” to the business community.
“You’ve used this route in November 2024, and you’ve used it a few times before then as well. So, there is an impact.”
The repeated disruption to PSC-hosted marches, the largest pro-Palestine events in London, was a “demobilizer,” Jamal said.
It also caused confusion about march starting points and led to protesters being harassed by police officers who accused them of violating protest conditions, he added.
A Met spokesperson told The Guardian: “The outcome of the judicial review does not prevent senior officers from considering the cumulative impact of protest on the life of communities.
“To determine the extent of disruption that may result from a particular protest, it is, of course, important to consider the circumstances in which that protest is to be held, including any existing disruption an affected community is already experiencing.
“We recognise the importance of the right to protest. We also recognise our responsibility to use our powers to ensure that protest does not result in serious disorder or serious disruption. We use those powers lawfully and will continue to do so.”
