Columbia University has temporarily banned an Israeli business professor from its campus, accusing him of harassment and intimidation of staff.

Shai Davidai, an assistant professor of business, said he was kicked out of Manhattan University because he was “not afraid to stand up to the hateful crowd” of pro-Palestinian protesters.

The Ivy League school was the scene of a political flashpoint earlier this year after pro-Palestinian protesters set up encampments for weeks on the university’s lawn, part of a wave student protests across the country.

Professor Davidai is a pro-Israel voice on campus and has repeatedly recorded videos of himself challenging Columbia students and employees at the university over their criticism of the Middle Eastern country.

In a video shared on social media, Professor Davidai said he attended protests on October 7 on campus in which demonstrators “celebrated” the Hamas attack.

He claimed he had now been banned from campus “because I was not afraid to stand up to this hateful mob and because I was not afraid to report” one of the university’s leaders for ” not having done anything about it.”

Samantha Slater, a spokeswoman for Columbia University, said it had “consistently and continually respected Assistant Professor Davidai’s right to freedom of speech and to express his opinions.”

“Threatening behavior”

She added: “His freedom of expression has not been limited and is not currently limited.

“However, Columbia does not tolerate threats of intimidation, harassment or other threatening behavior from its employees.

“Because Assistant Professor Davidai has repeatedly harassed and intimidated university employees in violation of university policy, we have temporarily limited his access to campus while he undergoes appropriate training on our policies governing the behavior of our employees.

A university official said Professor Davidai was banned for “harassing university employees in violation” of policy on the October 7 anniversary. They said this was not linked to a single incident or individual.

On October 7, Professor Davidai filmed himself following Cas Holloway, the university’s director of operations, and asking him why he was allowing pro-Palestinian protests on the anniversary of the attack of Hamas which killed 1,200 Israelis.

“How did you allow this to happen on October 7? Professor Davidai can be heard asking in the video shared across his 100,000 social media channels. “I won’t let you rest, if they let us rest.”

Professor Davidai was banned from campus for a day in April after he said he was going to sit in the middle of the pro-Palestinian encampment.

“I told my lawyers that I will be happy to complete the training if Cas Holloway completes it with me,” Professor Davidai told the school newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator. “Innocent people don’t get punished, not in a democracy, and I refuse to accept punishment for something I’m innocent of.”

Professor Davidai’s temporary suspension comes just weeks after the resignation of Minouche Shafik, president of the university.

His handling of pro-Palestinian protests, including his decision to send police to campus to clear the encampments, has drawn widespread criticism.

The Telegraph has contacted Professor Davidai for comment.

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