Members of Congress Urge FBI To Investigate Terror Threats From Anti-Israel Student Groups at Columbia

Members of Congress are calling on the FBI to “do your job” and immediately address the murderous terror threats made by a coalition of anti-Israel student groups at Columbia University. Senator Ernst and Representative Elise Stefanik on Monday sent the agency a letter citing numerous violent remarks made by a member of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Khymani James, in a now-viral video. His shocking remarks include, “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” and, “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.” Mr. James was suspended in April after the video, which he posted on social media, resurfaced online. He is suing the school for what he claims to be an unfair suspension. While the anti-Israel coalition issued an apology last spring on behalf of Mr. James, who was a prominent leader of the Columbia encampment movement, it backtracked on its statement in a letter published on October 8, the day after the anniversary of Hamas’s massacre in Israel, claiming that the apology “does not represent Khymani or CUAD’s values or political lines.” The apology has since been removed from the group’s social media pages. In its October 8 statement, the group also affirmed its support of “liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance,” and claimed: “In the face of violence from the oppressor equipped with the most lethal military force on the planet, where you’ve exhausted all peaceful means of resolution, violence is the only path forward.” It signed off its statement by repeating a rallying cry: “Long live Palestine, long live the Intifada, and long live the Resistance.”The group had already made its stance on violence clear a week earlier, when it endorsed a Hamas terror attack at Tel Aviv that killed seven people, calling it a “bold attack” and “a significant act of resistance.” “It’s rare for potential perpetrators of violence, particularly school-based violence, to widely and publicly broadcast their intent in such a way as it becomes national news,” the lawmakers wrote. “But that’s exactly what the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition of student groups, did on October 8, 2024.” These threats, the lawmakers argue, “demand immediate attention and a thorough investigation to prevent any acts of terrorism.” The anti-Israel coalition is made up of Columbia’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice For Peace, both of which were suspended from campus last year for violating the school’s protest policies. Students for Justice in Palestine is facing a lawsuit for allegedly acting as a terror arm of Hamas on college campuses. The groups have continued to organize on campus through the CUAD alliance. CUAD was one of the leading organizers behind the anti-Israel encampment that took hold of Columbia’s campus following Hamas’s October 7 attack and the ensuing war in Gaza. The resulting violence and harassment unleashed on Columbia’s Jewish students in the spring even prompted leaders of Columbia’s Jewish community to tell the students to “return home” because “Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy.” The lawmakers pointed to CUAD’s role in perpetuating violence against Jewish students, noting that “these threats aren’t idle.” “In light of the considerable violence occurring for which this group is already responsible, and Columbia University’s inability and unwillingness to police its own campus necessitating it to request the NYPD intervene, federal intervention is now necessary,” they wrote. According to a threat assessment tool used by the FBI, the lawmakers add, CUAD’s threats and past actions make their most recent statement a “medium-level threat,” which usually warrants “investigation as a possible criminal offense.” “The time to act is now. Rarely has the FBI had such public and obvious evidence of potentially imminent violence,” they write in their letter. “This cannot become another instance in which a terrible case of violence takes place at a school and the FBI issues a statement after the fact that the perpetrators were ‘on its radar,’ but did nothing.” The lawmakers continue: “Put simply, the writing is on the wall and you have no excuse. Do your job.”

Members of Congress Urge FBI To Investigate Terror Threats From Anti-Israel Student Groups at Columbia

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