Columbia University Leaves Door Open for Student Who Called for Death of Zionists to Return to Campus

Columbia University has denied the reapplication of a student who said Zionists do not deserve to live and are lucky he has not resorted to killing them himself but left the door open to the anti-Israel protest leader returning to campus this fall, according to documents filed in a New York court.

Khymani James filmed himself making the comments during the 2023-2024 academic year, a period in which Columbia students amassed in the hundreds to set up a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the New York City campus to show solidarity with Hamas in the aftermath of the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.

“These are all the same people. The existence of them and the projects they have built, i.e. Israel, it’s all antithetical to peace. It’s all antithetical to peace. And so, yes, I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for those people to die,” James said in 2024.

“Zionists don’t deserve to live,” he continued, proclaiming that people should “be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”

James warned, “I don’t fight to injure or for there to be a winner or a loser. I fight to kill.”

Facing criticism from lawmakers and Jewish advocacy groups over its hesitance to discipline students who perpetrated antisemitism, Columbia suspended James in April 2024, saying he would be eligible to return in the fall of 2025. In response, he sued the university, alleging that the measure was racist and aimed at “privileging a subset of Jewish people.”

The suit charged twice that Columbia University favored Jews over “nonJews [sic].”

“James as a person of color is squarely within a protected class of black and brown-skinned students who have been the major targets of Columbia’s disciplinary actions arising from pro-Palestinian expression,” the suit stated. “James has been a victim of Columbia’s anti-Palestinian bias, severely punished, though not himself a Palestinian, as a supporter of the rights of Palestinian people. Third, James has been a victim of reverse discrimination, as Columbia privileges a class of self-described ‘Zionist Jewish’ people over everyone on campus who does not share their views.”

Since being suspended, James has continued to endorse political violence as a means of resolving ideological disputes. In September 2024, he expressed support for the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University and called for additional killings, saying, “MORE. MORE!!! … Down with all fascists.”

In a newly revealed letter filed in December as an exhibit in the lawsuit, Columbia refused James’ request to return to campus in the fall of 2025.

One year later, in August 2025, Columbia again rejected his request to reenroll in a second letter filed in the lawsuit. Both letters were first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.

“Your written submissions do not demonstrate a clear understanding of the impact of your conduct,” the second letter to James stated.

Written by a college dean whose name is still redacted from the document, it explained that James’ online speech since being suspended prevented his re-enrollment, as it showed “insufficient ‘reflection on your activities’ that resulted in your suspension.” The letter cited that James had defended his wish to kill Zionists while being suspended and publicly said on social media that “anything I said, I meant it.”

“Your use of language tending to reaffirm those statements during your suspension raises serious concerns about your readiness to return to Columbia and engage with others appropriately,” the letter continued. “That only reinforces our concerns, rather than alleviates them.”

However, the university stressed that James was entitled to due process and would be “eligible to reapply to return” for the fall 2026 semester.

“You will be eligible to reapply to return for the fall 2026 semester under the conditions provided for in your Aug. 7, 2024, suspension letter,” it added. “It is our hope that you will use the months ahead to engage in more substantive and careful reflection on the behaviors that led to your suspension.”

The potential for James to return prompted concerns that Columbia may be reverting back to a cavalier attitude toward antisemitism, after pledging to never again allow brazen affronts to the civil rights of Jewish students who were assaulted, harassed, intimidated on campus.

“Universities should take responsibility for the students they admit to their campuses,” US Rep. Tim Wahlberg (R-MI), chairman of the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce, told The Algemeiner on Friday. “Under federal civil rights law, Columbia has the duty to prevent antisemitic harassment on its campus. I expect that Columbia’s incoming president will take this responsibility seriously.”

Columbia’s decision not to permanently expel James comes as the school continues to face scrutiny for its handling of antisemitism and pro-Hamas activism on campus.

This year, the university retained a professor who celebrated Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel — in which the Palestinian terrorist group sexually assaulted women and men, kidnapped the elderly, and murdered children in their beds — allowing him to teach a course on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The professor, Joseph Massad, teaches modern Arab politics and intellectual history. On Oct. 8, 2023, he published an encomium to Hamas in The Electronic Intifada which lauded the Oct. 7 atrocities as “astounding,” “awesome,” “incredible,” and the basis of future assaults on the Jewish state. Additionally, Massad went as far as to exalt the Hamas paragliders who flew into a music festival to slaughter the young people attending it as the “air force of the Palestinian resistance.”

“Perhaps the major achievement of the resistance in the temporary takeover of these settler-colonies is the death blow to any confidence that Israeli colonists had in their military and its ability to protect them,” Massad wrote.

In July, former interim university president Claire Shipman said the institution will hire new coordinators to oversee complaints alleging civil rights violations; facilitate “deeper education on antisemitism” by creating new training programs for students, faculty, and staff; and adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism — a tool that advocates say is necessary for identifying what constitutes antisemitic conduct and speech.

Shipman also announced new partnerships with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other Jewish groups while delivering a major blow to the anti-Zionist movement on campus by vowing never to “recognize or meet with” the infamous organization Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a pro-Hamas campus group which had serially disrupted academic life with unauthorized, surprise demonstrations attended by non-students.

However, it’s unclear to what extent Columbia will follow through on these initiatives under new leadership.

Columbia recently hired a new university president, Jennifer Mnookin. As chancellor of University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mnookin struck a deal with pro-Hamas protesters that called for hiring Palestinian instructors and once issued a “land acknowledgement,” a hallmark of leftist ideology which fostered popular support against the higher education establishment. In 2020, she endorsed the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement even as some of its supporters started riots, promoted antisemitism, and demoralized law enforcement.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.