A Columbia University student who discussed “killing Zionists” was “expelled from campus” on Friday, according to a university spokesperson.
Junior Kaimani James has previously suggested people should be “thankful” he hasn’t killed “Zionists” by comparing them to “white supremacists” and “Nazis” It went viral on the internet, and early Friday morning he expressed his “regret.”
James addressed the inflammatory comments that were initially reported without explicitly mentioning what they were. daily wireduring a livestream of Columbia’s official investigation in January.
“Actually, I’m hoping to get kicked out because I was planning on traveling to South America,” James said during a livestream about whether he would remain a student at Columbia University.
University officials told Fox News Digital that disciplinary proceedings are currently underway.
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Columbia University student Kaimani James has apologized after referring to Zionists as “white supremacists” and “Nazis” went viral. (Getty Images)
Before news broke that James had been suspended, Columbia campus update It criticized the video as “deeply disturbing and upsetting”.
“Calls for or statements of violence that target individuals based on religious, ethnic, or national identity are unacceptable and violate university policy,” the statement said. “Any violation of the student conduct policy will be reviewed and disciplinary action will be taken.”
“What are Zionists? White supremacists,” James said in a resurfaced video.
“Thank God I’m not just going out and killing Zionists,” he said at another point. “I have never hurt anyone in my life, and I hope to continue to do so.”
“So I want to be very clear here,” James, now 20, said in a video montage compiled by the Daily Wire. “I’m not saying I’m going to go out and start killing Zionists. What I’m saying is that if an individual who identifies as a Zionist directly threatens my physical safety, If I dabble, I’m going to do it.” And in that scenario, you might find yourself in a situation where you don’t know when to quit. ”
in speak to the cameraJames said Zionists “should not exist.”
“I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for those people to die,” James said at the time. “That being said, Kaimani has signed out.”
James was recently cited by news outlets including CBS News and the New York Times as a spokesperson for anti-Israel protests in Colombia. In 2021, he boston globe At age 17, he spoke of a “confrontational” approach to fighting “injustice.”
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In a statement released to X on Thursday, James expressed “regret” for some of the rhetoric in the video, but said it was “far-right agitators” who discovered his language in the first place. He also expressed his dissatisfaction.
“What I said was wrong,” James wrote. “Every member of our community has the right to feel safe even if they are not qualified, and I wish people had more context for my words, which is unfortunate. Far-right agitators scoured my social media feeds for months until they found the clips, edited without context.
“I’m frustrated that the words I said in an Instagram Live video interfered with the Palestinian liberation movement. I was so quick that I made a gaffe. I apologize,” James wrote. .
“I’m frustrated that the words I said in an Instagram Live video interfered with the Palestinian liberation movement. I was so quick that I made a gaffe. I apologize,” James wrote. . (Peter Garber)
James also claimed that Zionists had a hateful ideology and compared them to “Nazis.”
“Zionists should not exist anywhere, neither Zionists nor Nazis,” James said.
“And as a society, as a group, those people, those people, some people, who have an ideology that will lead to the death of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people, those people, those people, some people need to die. If we can agree on that, wouldn’t it be better for some people to die?
“Why would you want people who support genocide to be alive? I’m confused!” James said.
“Zionists, like all white supremacists, should not exist because they actively kill and harm vulnerable people,” James said. “They stop the world from progressing.”
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FOX News’ Jeffrey Clark and Daniel Wallace contributed to this report.
