A ringleader ofColumbia University’s anti-Israel encampmentwas banned from the Ivy League campus Fridayafter newly resurfaced video showed the student publicly raging that “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”
Khymani James, who says they go by “he/she/they” pronouns, made the disturbing remarks during a disciplinary hearing with university officials back in January, which the student livestreamed and then blasted out on social media.
“Zionists don’t deserve to live comfortably, let alone Zionists don’t deserve to live,” the student filmed themselves saying.
“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.”
“Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists,” James added. “I’ve never hurt anyone in my life, and I hope to keep it that way.”
James made the sickening comments as they were being grilled by officials from Columbia’s Center for Student Success and Intervention over a past Instagram post, according to the video, which was first reported on by the Daily Wire.
In the post in question, James — who is a spokesperson for Columbia’s anti-Israel student group Apartheid Divest — had warned any Zionist wanting to “meet up and fight” that they “fight to kill.”
Meet Khymani James, a student leader of Columbia University’s anti-Israel Gaza Solidarity Encampment who openly states that "Zionists don’t deserve to live"
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We put together the highlights: pic.twitter.com/JFlxnRkNC2
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) April 25, 2024
“Do you see why that’s problematic in any way?” a Columbia official probed during the meeting, to which James fired back, “No.”
“I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for those people to die,” James said, according to the video. “And with that being said, Khymani is signed out.”
According to the New York Times, James proudly spouted the shocking remarks during a disciplinary hearing — which they claimed was “institutional violence.”
“The student in question has been banned from campus,” a campus spokesperson confirmed Friday.
Columbia University did not make it clear, however, whether barring James from the campus meant they were suspended or permanently expelled.
The school also declined to comment on whether the student had been, or would be, disciplined for the remarks other than their banishment.
The footage of James’ remarks started circulating on social media Thursday as the disruptive anti-Israel protests on the Ivy League campus raged on.
Hours before they were banned from campus, James, who has been spotted holding rally-style speeches within Columbia’s encampment zone this week, fired back with ahalf-hearted, too-little-too-late apologyin which they claimed they were a victim of racism.
James, who has been spotted holding rally-style speeches within Columbia’s encampment zone this week, fired back with ahalf-hearted apologyin which they claimedthey were a victim of racism.
“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,” they said in a statement posted on X.
“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.”
James went on to acknowledge that both CUAD and encampment organizers had distanced themselves from the student’s past comments.
“I agree with their assessment. Those words do not represent CUAD. They also do not represent me,” the student said.
“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.”
Still, the student’s apparent apology flies in the face of remarks they made as recently as this week.
“People can have entrance to our encampment as long as they’re respecting community guidelines,” James told reporters Wednesday during one of their many addresses. “The most important one being that we do not allow for any discrimination or bigotry of any kind.”
Just days earlier, though, a group of Jewish students claimed toNews Nationthat James had been spewing the activist’s prior anti-Zionistrhetoric.
“We have Zionists who have entered the camp,” James is alleged to have said, before telling those close by to form a human chain.
“Walk and take a step forward so that we can start to push them out of the camp.”
