Shai Davidai is a professor at Columbia University’s business school. Recently, he has been writing about anti-Israel and anti-Jewish activism on campus. He is a bold man. I wanted to talk with him — and I have, on this Q&A.
Davidai grew up in Israel. He came to the United States for his Ph.D. (Cornell). He has lived here ever since. He had never seen anything like the antisemitism that broke out after October 7. On our podcast, he speaks of the sheer vitriol he has witnessed — and experienced personally.
Antisemitism, he observes, has moved from the social media to the streets, or the quads. He likens the social media to the beer halls of the 1930s. What was “underground” in those halls eventually found its way onto the streets, and rally grounds.
There have always been arguments over Israel, Davidai notes — and no arguments are fiercer than between Israelis. But the atmosphere now is different, he says: an atmosphere of antisemitism, where Israel’s simple right to exist is challenged or denied.
In recent weeks, I have been talking with people about students involved in anti-Israel or anti-Jewish activism. (It’s sometimes hard to tell where one leaves off and the other begins.) Will these kids — misled and radicalized — grow out of it? Could well be, says Shai Davidai. But the organizations — the poisonous organizations on campus — will remain. And they have a new crop of 18-year-olds to seduce every year.
Toward the end of our podcast, I ask Davidai something like, “How worried are you and other Jews here?” In answer, he points to the synagogues, the Hillel chapter at Columbia, etc. There are always policemen in front of them. And they are there for good reason.
Good answer.
Shai Davidai is a very thoughtful man, in addition to a bold one. I enjoyed listening to him, and learned from him. Again, our Q&A is here.