A Jewish professor at Columbia University said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an “agent of chaos” after voicing her support for pro-Palestinian protesters whose encampment took over campus this week.
Shai Davidai was barred from campus after helping lead a pro-Israel counter-demonstration and said Jewish students are fleeing Columbia University in New York City because they are afraid.
“Columbia University has two presidents right now and they are Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, because this is not about Israel, this is about America,” the professor told Fox News, referring to AOC’s fellow pro-Palestinian teammates in the House of Delegates.
He added, “And the university just decided that they don’t care about Jewish safety, and they don’t care about Jewish students.”
Professor Shai Davidai of Jewish Columbia University was barred from campus for leading a pro-Israel counter-demonstration and said that Rep. AOC stands for ‘agent of chaos’ after supporting pro-Palestinian protesters
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) supports the large encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters who have flooded the Columbia University campus in recent weeks
Davidai told Fox News on Wednesday that his badge was disabled at the school because he was told the university could not guarantee his safety at the campus encampment.
Meanwhile, Jewish students were told it might be safer to take classes virtually during the demonstrations.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik extended by 48 hours the deadline for anti-Israel protesters to disperse from the so-called Gaza Solidarity Camp.
This has angered pro-Israeli factions, while pro-Palestinian lawmakers are angry at the university’s president for allegedly threatening police or the National Guard to clear the protesters.
“Involving police enforcement in nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalating, reckless and dangerous act,” AOC wrote on X on Tuesday.
She added: “It represents an appalling failure of leadership that is putting people’s lives at risk. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Davidai said that if another group were targeted, such as Jewish students on Columbia’s campus, New York Mayor Eric Adams would already have the NYPD involved.
“If this was about the KKK, if this targeted a race, if this targeted a sexual orientation or a sexual identity, the NYPD would have found something to do about it,” he claimed.
“Because this is against the Jews, Mayor Eric Adams speaks very highly of how much he cares and does nothing.”
When asked about the New York representatives’ tweet, Davidai said AOC is “an agent of chaos.”
“Involving police enforcement in nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalating, reckless and dangerous act,” AOC wrote on X on Monday evening
Davidai led a pro-Israel counter-protest at Columbia University and shortly afterwards had his campus key card disabled
“That’s the name AOC, it’s an agent of chaos,” he explained. “And I’m just looking forward to seeing my children and grandchildren reading about this chapter in history and the list of all the rabid anti-Semites, and seeing her name there.”
“This is not a peaceful protest. And she lies to the people, just like Rashida Tlaib,” the Jewish professor noted in his interview with America Newsroom, during which he wore a Star of David around his neck.
He pushed back on Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), claiming the protesters were “nonviolent.”
“This isn’t about Democrats or Republicans, this is about moderates versus extremists,” Davidai said.
President Shafik gave up its midnight deadline after the group ignored requests to disband and extended it for another 48 hours after reportedly promising to remove a “significant” number of tents and non-students from the demonstration.
AOC says the Manhattan Ivy League school is wrong to try to stop protesters from laying siege to the campus.
Amid the unrest, Columbia President Minouche Shafik faced calls to resign. She wrote in an email to the community that they must disperse or they will be cleared out
This is not the first time AOC has praised protesters who oppose Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas terrorists in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
The team member cheered on pro-Palestinian protesters as they opened for President Joe Biden at an Earth Day event in Virginia on Monday.
Along with fellow progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey, AOC told the crowd: “It is especially important today that we remember the power of young people who are shaping this country, as we once again witness the leadership of those peaceful student-led protests campuses like Columbia and Yale and Berkeley and many others.”
The daughter of fellow team member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was one of 100 protesters arrested earlier this week, along with protesters from Barnard College — a sister university of Columbia.
Isra Hirsi, 21, was part of the days-long anti-Israel protest at Columbia University and says she was kicked out of campus housing and banned from the dining hall after the arrest.
‘I was a bit panicky, like: where am I going to sleep? Where am I going? And also all my shit gets thrown into a random lot. It’s pretty horrible,” she told Teen Vogue.
President Shafix wrote an email to the so-called ‘Gaza Plaza’ group on Tuesday evening issuing an ultimatum to voluntarily dismantle or face cleanup.
AOC condemned reports of threats to police or the National Guard
Columbia intimidated the protesters and allowed their encampment to remain on campus for an additional 48 hours after a dispersal deadline passed
On Tuesday evening, it was also reported that NYPD counter-terrorism officers were mobilizing to finally put an end to the protest.
Republican Senators Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.) have called on President Joe Biden to deploy the National Guard to all campuses where Jewish students say they feel threatened by the growing protests against Israel.
Cotton called the Columbia protests “emerging pogroms.”
“If Eric Adams won’t send in the NYPD and Kathy Hochul won’t send in the National Guard, Joe Biden has an obligation to take charge and disperse these gangs,” the senator wrote.
Hawley told the president to take action, writing, “We have seen intimidation and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant anti-Semitism is reprehensible and dangerous.”
“You must immediately mobilize the National Guard and all other authorities necessary to ensure the safety of Jewish American students and citizens,” Hawley wrote.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower called in troops as well as the 101st Airborne Division in 1957 to protect black students attending Central High School in Arkansas.