A ringleader of Columbia University’s anti-Israel encampment is under fire after 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 meeting with university officials back in January, which the student live-streamed 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.”
“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.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if the meeting was a disciplinary hearing, or what came of it.
The footage of James’ remarks started circulating on social media Thursday as the disruptive, anti-Israel protests on the Ivy League campus raged on.
James, who has been spotted holding rally-style speeches within Columbia’s encampment zone this week, fired back with a half-hearted apology in which they claimed they, too, were a victim.
“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.”
“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,” they added.
