‘Zionists don’t deserve to live,’ suspended Columbia activist said. Now his group rescinds its apology and calls for violence

(CNN) — Nearly six months after Columbia University banned Khymani James, a Pro-Palestinian student activist, who said “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” the coalition that had apologized on his behalf rescinded its statement of regret – and advocated for armed resistance against Israel.

“Last spring, in the midst of the encampments, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) posted a statement framed as an apology on behalf of Khymani James,” CUAD posted Tuesday night on Instagram. “We deliberately misrepresented your experiences and your words, and we let you down.”

In a since-deleted post on X, James acknowledged in April that he had said several months earlier in an Instagram Live video: “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” and “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.” In the now-deleted April post, he said, “I misspoke in the heat of the moment, for which I apologize.”

Columbia suspended James in April, and he since sued the university to get his ban overturned.

“I never wrote the neo-liberal apology posted in late April, and I’m glad we’ve set the record straight once and for all,” James wrote Tuesday in an X post. “I will not allow anyone to shame me for my politics. Anything I said, I meant it.”

CUAD helped ignite the protest encampments at Columbia in April that sparked a pro-Palestine and anti-Israel movement on campuses across America. In the months since that movement started, the group has taken an increasingly hard-line stance against Israel, advocating for violent uprisings against the country.

“We support liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance,” the group said in its statement. “Where you’ve exhausted all peaceful means of resolution, violence is the only path forward.”

Columbia, in a statement, said Wednesday that it decried any calls for acts of violence.

“Statements advocating for violence or harm are antithetical to the core principles upon which this institution was founded,” said University Interim President Katrina Armstrong, the university’s provost and executive committee, in a statement. “This has seemed so fundamental that it did not require saying; to hear such things in our community is an aberration, whether or not protected by the First Amendment. We must be clear: calls for violence have no place at this or any university.”

CUAD’s post was made on October 8 – just one day after the first anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attacks. The attack left more than 1,200 Israelis dead, and Hamas continues to hold more than 100 people hostage. It was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Defending itself against ensuing bombings from Iran and Hezbollah, Israel has expanded its war across the Middle East in recent months.

Meanwhile, Israel’s war against Hamas has left 40,000 people dead in Gaza. The brutal war in Gaza and its massive civilian death toll has ignited widespread fury, even among Israel’s allies. Calls for a ceasefire mount, but Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government have dug in and resisted such arrangements.

As the war grows bloodier and more intolerable, the protest movement on campuses has grown increasingly radical. Colleges that have struggled to contend with encampments, antisemitism, Islamophobia and other hateful acts and speech are once facing a challenge of balancing free speech and safety.

Over the summer, many American universities adopted new sets of rules to support students’ security while allowing for non-disruptive forums for students to protest. But those new guidelines have quickly been put to the test in this new school year.

“We aspire to be an open campus but cannot be open while we are uncertain of safety,” Columbia said in its statement. “The trade-offs, between the safety of our students, faculty, and staff and the ideal of a campus porous to the city, are real. This week, with social media mixing calls for armed violence in the Middle East with defenses of local statements calling for violence, the balance tips to safety.”

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