Columbia Professor: Terrorism Is The Point

A Columbia professor shares his experience with the protests.

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Adaam is joined by Shai Davidai, an Israeli-born assistant professor at Columbia University, to discuss a viral moment in which he was denied entry to Columbia’s campus and how the university’s administration is failing to protect Jewish students.

The Agenda:
—Shai Davidai’s background, from Israel to Columbia
—The antisemitism he was warned about
—Dialogue with protesters
—The administrative involvement in the protests
—Play-by-play of Davidai’s experience on Columbia’s campus
—Are Jewish students safe on college campuses?

Show Notes:
—Davidai’s “Rape is never ok” tweet
—Petition calls for Davidai’s termination
—Davidai’s appearance on 60 Minutes
—Rep. Ilhan Omar questions Columbia University president
—Former Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s appearance at Columbia
—Time to Condemn’s website
—Resistance 101 event at Columbia
—Joseph Borgen, Jewish man assaulted in 2021

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Comments (66)
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  1. Avatar photo
    Lorraine Hudock

    I listen to many podcasts each week, & this episode affected me like no other. Adaam is a first rate interviewer & this guest told a fantastic story extremely well. Even knowing in advance the basics of the story, this telling of the details completely drew me in. Please have Adaam host more episodes & have Dr. Davidai back as well.

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    Scott Bender

    Thank you Adaam for an interview that was both even handed, and eye opening. Also another stark reminder of the bias of the mainstream media outlet and their inability to provide the complete story of what is happening at Columbia, and other campuses.

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  3. NotTheEditor

    Thank you for this, Adaam—a really good, thoughtful, and important interview!

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    BaltoJohn

    As a Columbia grad, I was sickened by Prof. Davidai's account of his interactions with the pusillanimous Columbia administration. At one point, he said the administration "couldn't" protect him. I wanted to yell, "No, they 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 protect you." I was glad to hear him say that later in the interview.

    I was at Columbia in 1968, and the situation now seems much like a rerun, complete with pusillanimous administration, "activists" from far and wide answering the call, virtue signalling, attention seeking faculty, and a crowd of over privileged white kids taking some time to pretend they're serving the downtrodden before moving on to positions at the investment banks and Wall Street law firms.

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    Aylene Wright

    So, although I got sidetracked into other topics in the comments yesterday; I just wanted to state that this is the best Israel themed episode of the TD Podcast so far. Or at least, of the post 10/7 era. (Adaam's interview of Haviv Gur pre-10/7 on Israeli judicial reform was also really good).

    Some posters have praised Adaam for "playing Devil's Advocate" but per comments he made in this comment section earlier, he actually sincerely disagrees with the guest over both how bad the protests really are, and the best way to handle them.

    This is the kind of respectful disagreement that is unfortunately very rare on TD podcasts. I had hoped Mr. Weinstein would have continued the trend from his personal podcast for the same, but his recent guest choices unfortunately give an impression he is purposefully booking poor quality representatives of the "other side" who wind up confirming the listeners priors that only cranks and crazies disagree with them. Maybe he just doesn't have access to better guests? I hope that changes.

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    Michael Berkowitz

    Well done, especially for the mildly adversarial questioning, which always adds zest and usually adds clarity.

    Shai Davidai, of course, has my sympathy and support, for whatever that's worth. Over the months, I have shared a lot of his posts on social media. One point I'd like to clarify/take issue with: I would not describe Meretz, the Israeli party with which Dr. Davidai identifies, as "liberal" and for "equal rights", at the same time implying that those to the right of it are less so.

    As a close but casual observer, I would cautiously say that the edges of the Israeli political map, like the American map, have aspects of illiberalism. I don't think I need to dilate on what that means, not for the Dispatch crowd. In the large center, though, left and right tend to be liberal and for equal rights.

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  7. Morah Nechamah

    Thank you for this. I do wish that you had done this on a different night, a non yomtov/holy night, but perhaps I am the only one for whom it is an issue. I hear better when I see faces, but I had to depend on just the recording. Still, I am grateful.

    I am puzzled and even shocked by some of the comments here, but I am also shocked that you, Shai, would still support the 2-state final solution, at least at this point, in this generation. To me, it would be like offering nazi germany a state, and supporting it, to be right next to Israel. I don't get the idea of making peace with those who wish to kill us. That isn't peace, except maybe for being dead and resting in peace.

    I also wish to add/possibly clarify something about Zionism. Your definition at the beginning was of political Zionism, and perhaps that is the only issue for you, but I think it might help decent people to understand that Zionism is an intrinsic part of Judaism and always has been. There is of course the political movement of modern Zionism, which calls for a Jewish homeland and state in the land to which we have not only biblical claim (which doesn’t matter to anyone who doesn’t live by or love or respect the Jewish bible) but also historical, ethnic, cultural, emotional and social attachment as well as presence and precedence.

    Too often, though, I see people forget about the always-present Zionism in Judaism, from the ‘Next year in Yerushalayim/Jerusalem’ to next year in ara d’yisrael/ to next year in the land of Israel; from references to Yerushalayim and the land of Israel in everyday prayer and blessings after the meals, to the centuries and millennia of Jews struggling to get back to , or already living in, the Land of Israel (even when under foreign control) as well as the millennia of Jews who supported them; from reading in the Torah and haftarot of the promises of the land, the importance of the land of Israel for Jews, about returning to the land and re-establishing a commonwealth there, to prophecies about the return to and the rebuilding of the Land and its flourishing and thriving only when Jews return, and the role Israel under Jews will play in the world; from repeated experiences in the Galut/diaspora of not only oppression and persecution of Jews but also the preventing us of observing Judaism, to living in a society in the Land of Israel where Jews can live their Judaism openly, and it being the ONLY land where many mitzvot/commandments of the Torah can be observed.

    Zionism is not just a modern construct or political movement. It gained fame and momentum in the 19th century CE, but the looking toward Tziyon/'Zion' and Eretz Yisrael/The LAND of Israel, the desire to return and rebuild there, the movement toward moving there and rebuilding a Jewish commonwealth where we have control of our own lives and living and can keep the mitzvot that are applicable only in Eretz Yisrael, have always been integral and crucial facets of Judaism.

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  8. AndrewC

    Shout out to Adaam and TD as a whole. I really appreciate the effort into a devil’s advocate approach to guests and topics the host largely agrees with.

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  9. Payette

    Thank you, Adaam. It is important that Dr Davidai's story is heard.

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  10. D. Lee Grooms

    Did he disagree with every attempt Adaam made to summarize or synthesize what he was saying? I'm probably more sympathetic than most on the issues at hand, but…this is a tough guy to listen to, and I'm coming away with less sympathy than I started with (on his particular experience at Columbia right now). All of that pales in comparison with the whole circus, but it was tough for to imagine that he wanted anything other than a different circus there.

    If this is his usual style, taking a course from him would be…a journey. I think I'm too normie for all of it, but I learned a lot and was surprised to have my view of things nudged off my priors (though unfavorably so).

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