Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) sent a letter to the FBI on Monday demanding the bureau investigate a Columbia University student group for making terroristic threats such as "Zionists don’t deserve to live."
Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), in a now-deleted April statement, apologized and disavowed the spring remarks of one of its members, Khymani James, who fantasized about "murdering Zionists." One day after the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, however, CUAD released another statement withdrawing its apology, standing with James, and advocating for "liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance" while emphasizing in bold that "violence is the only path forward."
"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. But that’s exactly what Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition of student groups, did on October 8, 2024," Ernst and Stefanik wrote in their letter, obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, to James Dennehy, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office. "These violent threats demand immediate attention and a thorough investigation to prevent any acts of terrorism."
"The time to act is now. Rarely has the FBI had such public and obvious evidence of potentially imminent violence," the Republicans continued.
James, who is suspended from Columbia and is suing the school over "anti-Palestinian bias," has made clear that he stands by his violent remarks that attracted international media attention, adding, "Anything I said, I meant it."
CUAD also helped organize the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic protests that plagued Columbia in the spring, including the illegal encampments and a violent campus building takeover. Ernst and Stefanik, noting the student group’s involvement, said CUAD’s threats "aren’t idle and noted that the director of the Orthodox Union-Jewish Learning Initiative at Columbia and Barnard urged Jewish students to "return home as soon as possible and remain home" because "Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy."
"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," the Republicans wrote.
The congressional letter also noted that CUAD recently praised a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv that killed seven Israelis, including a mother who died while shielding her 9-month-old baby. That "bold attack" and "significant act of resistance," the student group wrote in an essay, "serves as a reminder that the struggle is not confined to Gaza or Lebanon."
Ernst and Stefanik also wrote that, according to an FBI tool, "The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective," CUAD’s threats and history make its most recent statements "a medium-level threat" that often "warrant investigation as a possible criminal offense."
"This cannot become another instance in which a terrible case of violence takes place at school, and the FBI issues a statement after the fact that the perpetrators were ‘on its radar,’ but did nothing. Put simply, the writing is on the wall, and you have no excuse. Do your job," the pair concluded.
Columbia University spokeswoman Millie Wert told the Free Beacon, "Statements advocating for violence or harm are antithetical to the core principles upon which this institution was founded. Calls for violence have no place at Columbia or any university."