Shai Davidai is a professor at Columbia University. He is also Jewish. He also recently learned that an imam instructed members of the student group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine to "take him out."

Looks like the school year at Columbia is off to its expected start.

According to a piece in The College Fix, Davidai noted that he learned his name came up in the Aug. 20 webinar, “Islamic Political Activism.” Davidai, who is an Israeli national and calls himself a Zionist, was targeted by Imam Tom Facchine. In addition to his role as an imam, Facchine is also a research director at the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. 

In the video, Facchine can be seen telling the students to create a situation to get Davidai "in trouble," stating in part, "How do we create a situation in which [his professorship is] in jeopardy? This is what the Zionists do. That might silence 100 other professors if you’re able to take out somebody like that and make them an example, that might shut up 100 more." The article also said that Facchine suggested that students:

…think creatively about where we prioritize things, what’s the biggest threat here, what’s our biggest opportunity, which domino, if we knock it over, will knock 20 dominos over.

The video is below:

Students for 'Justice' in Palestine at @Columbia invited an imam who instructed them to target me and "create a situation" that gets me in trouble pic.twitter.com/NF6vhxZINh

— Shai Davidai (@ShaiDavidai) August 24, 2024

Davidai, who was banned from certain parts of the Columbia campus during the spring by activists, said he plans to take legal action. On Monday, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said it had been permanently banned from Instagram. So far, the reason for the ban has yet to be released. The group had advertised the webinar on the platform.

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Much has been made of the fact that the tenets of Islam are in direct contravention of the ideals held by the average Columbia protester. Theoretically, this discrepancy should raise the question of why Columbia students would be so quick to embrace ideas that are the polar opposite of their own. Yes, some of it is due to indoctrination, which, for some of these students, may have been going on since grade school. But it is also reflective of the mindset that once a point is settled, there will be no debate, no matter the amount of evidence to the contrary. This is especially true when it comes to college students who are still within spitting distance of puberty and are searching for an outlet for whatever angst may still be ricocheting around the walls of their skulls. The establishment is for it; therefore, it is bad, and we must be against it. And if a rush of adrenaline and a sense of community are two of the resulting perks, so much the better. 

College students and young people in general make perfect foot soldiers for totalitarians. When Khomeini became the Supreme Leader of Iran in 1979, college students played a pivotal role in taking over the American embassy and holding Americans hostage for 444 days. The Nazis had the Hitler Youth, and Mao had his Red Guard. Unsurprisingly, this current effort finds fertile ground at Columbia and other campuses.