'Zionists don't deserve to live': Columbia University student rants in live instagram video

“Zionists don’t deserve to live,” and “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering zionists,” were said by Columbia University student Khymani James in a rant in a resurfaced January video. 

James, a Columbia University anti-Israel encampment leader, who says they go by “he/she/they” pronouns, made the remarks during and after a meeting with university administrators in January, which the student posted in an Instagram live video.

Meet Khymani James, a student leader of Columbia University’s anti-Israel Gaza Solidarity Encampment who openly states that "zionists don’t deserve to live"He made the comments during a meeting with the school that he live-streamed. We put together the highlights: pic.twitter.com/JFlxnRkNC2

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) April 25, 2024

James made the comments as they were in a discussion with officials from Columbia’s Center for Student Success and Intervention over a past Instagram post, according to the video.

Following the comments, James was banned from campus grounds, a Columbia university spokesperson told CNN.

In the post under discussion, James had warned any Zionist wanting to “meet up and fight” that they “fight to kill.”

In a clip of the video circulating online, they said, “If we can agree as a society, as a collective, that some people need to die if they have an ideology that results in the death of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, if there are people like that who exist, shouldn’t they die?” 

He then continued to call zionists nazis, fascists, white supremacists, and supporters of genocide. He asks, “Why would we want people who are supporters of genocide to live?”

He then argues that zionists should not exist because they “actively kill and harm vulnerable people.” 

After he shared that people should be grateful he's not going out and murdering zionists, he added, ”I’ve never murdered anyone in my life and I hope to keep it that way. But when you have a whole bunch of zionists, white supremacists, nazis, fascists, threatening your physical safety, one feels the need to remind them that one is not afraid to reach that point. And we know what that point is.”

James publishes statement on social media

Early on Friday, James published a statement to their social media accounts saying that his comments were taken out of context in the clips that have been shared online. He also declared that what he said was wrong, and that “every member of our community deserves to feel safe without qualification.”

Read my statement below: pic.twitter.com/0u6mwycAYS

— Khymani James (@KhymaniJames) April 26, 2024

He called the people who began recirculating the video “far-right agitators” and alleges that he was upset in the video because he felt had been targeted because he is “visibly queer and Black.” They then continue that it is not his first time being targeted for his identity by “people who use racist and homophobic slurs…in an effort to intimidate me and student protesters like myself.” 

In the statement he emphasizes that they believe that Zionism necessitates the genocide of the Palestinian people which he “opposes in the strongest terms.” He also states that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people and should be held accountable. 

Towards the end of the statement it says, “I am frustrated that words I said in an Instagram Live video have become a distraction from the movement for Palestinian liberation. I misspoke in the heat of the moment, for which I apologize.”

He concluded his statement saying, “My focus remains on drawing attention to the plight of the Palestinian people, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. I remain committed to learning and building a better, more just world for all of us.”