One of the leaders of the anti-Israel encampment at Columbia University, who was suspended after a video of him saying “Zionists don’t deserve to live” resurfaced, is suing the school, claiming he is the victim of pressure from “fascist politicians.”

In April, Columbia suspended Khymani James after the conservative news outlet, the Daily Wire, reported on a video he posted in January from a disciplinary hearing.

During that meeting, officials confronted Mr. James about social media posts, including one in which he stated he fights “to kill.” When asked if he saw how that could be “problematic in any way,” he responded, “No.” He also said, “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”

The 18-page lawsuit argues Columbia did not have jurisdiction to hold the disciplinary hearing that was triggered by posts on his social media feeds. It also insists Mr. James made the posts “with no intention of harming anyone” in a bid to “dissuade others from causing him physical harm” amid his anti-Israel commentary online.

The filing said Mr. James “decided to live stream the meeting due to his own powerful sense of being endangered.”

In March, the Center for Student Success and Intervention (CSSI) sent him a letter “alleging that he may have engaged in conduct that violated University policy” by live streaming the January meeting and using “language that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward group members of a protected class.”

Amid the disciplinary process, he became a leader of the anti-Israel encampment on campus in April. Yet he avoided getting suspended on April 18 when the university began to crack down on the demonstrators. 

And on April 19, Mr. James received a letter placing him on disciplinary probation for his live streaming of the January meeting, which supposedly signaled the matter’s conclusion. 

However, a week later, The Daily Wire resurfaced the video Mr. James live-streamed of the meeting, sparking criticism of his comments and the university’s response. After that report, Columbia banned him from the campus and placed him under “interim suspension,” despite his belief the matter had been settled. 

The New York Times reported it was unclear if the administrators who held the disciplinary meeting in January alerted the university’s leadership or safety officials to the comments at the time.

A university spokesman said in April that leadership took “immediate steps” to ban him from campus when it “learned of the video.”

Mr. James’ lawsuit claims the “time and language” of his suspension show “Columbia acted in response to external forces and national media attention.”

“The university is allowing external forces, applying pressure to it, to dictate outcomes in individual student disciplinary cases,” the filing alleges. 

Additionally, it claims the university “acted unreasonably and without regard for the facts that the case relating to James’s January 9, 2024 comments had already been resolved.”

The filing says he “has experienced overt and covert racism and homophobia at Columbia” and that the suspension has led to “further emotional and housing instability.”

In a post on X about the lawsuit, Mr. James accused Columbia of “cowering to billionaire donors and fascist politicians” in its decision to suspend him.