Columbia University banned a student protest leader who made remarks in a video that “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” a spokesperson from the university said, according to Fox News.
Khymani James, a junior at the university and one of the leaders of the anti-Israel encampment, issued an apology in a post on X early Friday morning in which he expressed that he had “misspoke in the heat of the moment.”
“I am frustrated that words I said in an Instagram Live video have become a distraction from the movement for Palestinian liberation,” James said. “I misspoke in the heat of the moment, for which I apologize.”
The Daily Wire first reported James’ remarks. The outlet noted words James had used during a live stream of his discussion with Columbia’s Center for Student Success and Intervention.
During the conservation, he became defensive about an Instagram post centered around the discussion.
As James was reading from the report during the live stream, he referenced a post that he had made about “Zionists” messaging him wanting to “meet up and fight” to which he said he “fights to kill.”
Upon being asked by a university official if James understood why that was “problematic,” he said he did not.
“I also want people to have more context for my words, which I regret,” James said in his statement. “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.”
In his live-streamed video, James went on to defend remarks he had made during his conversation with the school official, adding that he felt “very comfortable calling for those people to die.”
Even after the live stream of his meeting with the school official ended, James added:
Zionists don’t deserve to live comfortably, let alone, Zionists don’t deserve to live. The same way we are very comfortable accepting that 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.
The anti-Israel encampment at Columbia University was established on April 17. The next day, several students were suspended, and hundreds of protesters were arrested.
Columbia University had removed the encampment with help from officers with the New York Police Department. However, it has since returned, and school administrators are reportedly in negotiation talks with the protesters taking part in the encampment.
WATCH: NYPD Officers Arrest Anti-Israel Protesters Taking Over Columbia University Campus
Anonymous via StoryfulSince the start of the anti-Israel encampment, several universities — such as Northwestern University, the University of Southern California, Yale University, and George Washington University — have followed suit.
CRACKDOWN: Law Enforcement Deployed Against Pro-Palestinian Occupiers at UT Austin
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