An Israeli-American professor, Shai Davidai, who openly opposed anti-Israel student protests at Columbia University, has been banned from campus for allegedly “harassing and intimidating” his faculty colleagues.

Mr. Davidai, in a video posted Tuesday evening on his Instagram account and since deleted, announced that his access to campus had been temporarily suspended.

“The University has decided to no longer allow me to be on campus. My job. For what? Because of October 7th. Because I wasn’t afraid to stand up to this hateful crowd. And because I wasn’t afraid to expose Mr. f****** Cas Holloway,” he said in the video.

Mr. Davidai, who is an assistant professor at the business school, shared several videos on anti-Israeli demonstration on January 1st. anniversary of the Hamas massacre on October 7.

The Columbia University Apartheid Divest – a coalition of the Columbia chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace – organized a walkout on October 7 as part of “Within Our Lifetime’s call to flood New York for Palestine.

In one of the videos, Mr Davidai can be heard telling Mr Holloway: “You are indifferent and you know what? Hatred happens when people like you are indifferent. You are the director of operations for Columbia. Do you realize this?

His access to campus was cut off Tuesday at 3 p.m. Mr. Davidai will be allowed to return to campus once he “has completed appropriate training on our policies governing the behavior of our employees,” university spokeswoman Millie Wert told the Columbia Spectator.

“Columbia has always and continually respected Assistant Professor Davidai’s right to freedom of expression and to express his opinions. Her freedom of expression has not been limited and is not currently limited,” Ms. Wert told the student newspaper. “Columbia does not, however, tolerate threats of intimidation, harassment or other threatening behavior from its employees.”

Mr Davidai, however, said he would complete the training if “Cas Holloway completes it with me,” he told the Spectator. “Innocent people don’t get punished, not in a democracy, and I refuse to accept punishment for something I’m innocent of.”

His suspension does not affect his compensation or status as a faculty member at Columbia. Mr. Davidai, who is conducting research but not teaching classes this semester, will still be able to advise students remotely.