NEW YORK – An outspoken pro-Israel professor at Columbia University has been temporarily banned from campus, a university spokesman said Wednesday.

Shai Davidai, an assistant professor at Manhattan University’s business school, was banned from campus effective Tuesday after he repeatedly harassed and intimidated other employees, according to university spokesman Ben Chang.

Davidai, an Israeli citizen, is among the most prominent campus critics of pro-Palestinian protests and said school officials have not done enough to crack down on the demonstrations, which he sees as anti-Semitic.

He also helped lead pro-Israel counter-protests in Columbia last spring. On X, formerly Twitter, where he has more than 100,000 followers, he has accused pro-Palestinian student groups of supporting terrorism.

Chang said the university had “consistently and continually” respected Davidai’s right to express his views, but that the restrictions were a “direct result” of his behavior on Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the outbreak of terrorism triggered the latest conflict in the region.

“His freedom of expression has not been and will not be restricted now,” he wrote in a statement. “However, Columbia will not tolerate threats of intimidation, harassment or other threatening behavior by its employees.”

Davidai did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, but said on X that the ban was in response to social media videos in which he confronted university officials during pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus.

“He has now retaliated by having me suspended from campus,” Davidai wrote in his Tuesday post, referring to Cas Holloway, the university’s chief operating officer. The post also linked to a video on Instagram, which has since been removed.

“I don’t care about my future. It was never about me. I care about the future of @Columbia,” Davidai wrote in another post on

Chang emphasized that Davidai, who is not teaching this semester, was not suspended from his faculty position and that his compensation was not affected by the disciplinary action.

However, he added that he must complete a training program on the university’s policies on employee conduct before being allowed back on campus.

“Education, training, access restrictions and other measures are available to the university and will be used when faculty and other staff violate university policies,” Chang said. “As in other cases, we expect Assistant Professor Davidai to successfully complete his training and return to campus in a timely manner.”