Who is Shai Davidai? Columbia professor lashes out at university president over response to Israel-Hamas war
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Shai Davidai, an Israeli-American assistant professor at Columbia University’s business school ripped into his employer for ostensibly failing to denounce pro-Palestinian student organizations, which he described as "pro-terrorist."
At a school vigil honoring the Israelis abducted by Hamas terrorists, Davidai trembled with fury as he chastised liberal universities across the country for not "taking a stand" against the attacks.
The professor alleged that Minouche Shafik, the president of Columbia University, has not expressed opposition to the student organizations and declared he would never let his daughter attend an Ivy League university.
Davidai, who received his PhD from Cornell University in 2015, joined Columbia Business School in 2019 as an assistant professor in the Management Division of the institution.
Prior to joining CBS, he spent a year as a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University and 3 years as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Research, according to University Website
His work has been published in top-tier journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Science Advances, Scientific Reports, Nature Psychology Reviews, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, among many more.
What did Shai Davidai say about the university president?
In his furious address, Davidai called Shafik a “coward” and stated that the murders of 1,400 Israelis at the hands of Hamas militants and said such horrors were never OK “not as an act of resistance.”
Davidai yelled, "President Minouche Shafik of Columbia University, you are a coward," as he cited remarks made by Mayor Eric Adams and President Biden criticizing violence.
“Where are you, President Shafik of Columbia University? We are waiting for you to eradicate all pro-terror student organizations from campus,” the educator yelled out in remarks he posted to YouTube titled “an open letter to every parent in America.”
Davidai did not specify the student organizations he thought to be "pro-terrorist," but he did reference a demonstration held last Thursday that was organized by the Columbia chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.
He expressed his shock at seeing hundreds of students, whom he once more labeled as "pro-terrorists," demonstrate at Columbia University last week.
“If my amazing 2-year-old daughter was now 18 years old, I would never — never — send her to Columbia,” Davidai yelled.
“Not because it’s not a great institution — it’s an amazing institution. But because I know that she will not be protected there because the president of the university allows pro-terrorists to march on campus,” he continued
Then, the professor blatantly made comparisons between the demonstrators and ISIS or the KKK. “Can you imagine that here we have pro-terror student organizations?” Davidia asks as he tells those watching to share the video recording of his speech.
Why Maxwell Friedman was arrested?
The pro-Palestinian students’ protest came just a day after a 24-year-old Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside Columbia University’s main library. Maxwell Friedman, 19, was taken into custody following the attack and charged with second and third-degree assault, both as hate crimes.
The victim told the university’s student paper the Columbia Spectator he will not be returning to campus in the near future due to concerns for his safety.
Students who support Palestine have also encountered hostility on campus. An unnamed Columbia University employee was recorded telling the student radio station WKCR: “I hope every one of these people dies,” apparently referring to the pro-Palestinian student protesters at last Thursday’s demonstration.