[Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”]
Khymani James was a leader of the anti-Israel and pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia last year, and now he in the news again, for expressing his joy about the murder of Charlie Kirk. You can find out more about this deplorable creature here: “‘Down With Fascists’: Former Campus Activist Who Said ‘Zionists Don’t Deserve to Live’ Celebrates Charlie Kirk’s Murder,” by Jack Elbaum, Algemeiner, September 16, 2025:
A former leader of the anti-Israel movement at Columbia University expressed full support for the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week.
Khymani James, who made the posts, was a “campus a leader in the pro-Palestinian student protest encampment” at Columbia, according to The New York Times.
In the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, James posted on X, “More. MORE!!!,” referencing the killing. He followed up that post by saying, “Down with all the fascists ????.” (He later also called California Gov. Gavin Newsom a fascist.)
In another post, James wrote, “‘Be careful what you post’ and it’s people rightfully celebrating the inevitable and just fate of fascists. anywho… NO ONE MOURNS THE WICKED ????????.”
In addition to the posts he wrote, James also reposted statements such as “Thoughts and prayers for the bullet,” “rest in piss,” and “saw that s–t and started giggling and kicking my feet and shouting YOOOOOO.”
In James’s biography on the social platform X, he notes, “Anything I said, I meant it. DEATH TO EMPIRE.”
This is not the first time James has rhetorically supported violence. Last year, he was on video saying, “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” and proclaiming that people should “be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
He also said, “I don’t fight to injure or for there to be a winner or a loser. I fight to kill.”
The comments triggered widespread backlash, and James was suspended by Columbia. He remains barred from campus. The incident also resulted in what was widely seen as an apology for James on behalf of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), one of the most notorious anti-Israel campus groups in the US. Months later, however, the group retracted its previous apology.
“All CUAD organizers were complicit in not maintaining our political line, keeping the statement public on our Instagram, and in neglecting the mental and physical safety of Khymani,” the post read. CUAD apologized for causing “irrevocable harm” to him.
Despite James’s comments about the possibility of murdering Zionists, CUAD’s post claimed that he was criticized and socially ostracized for “fight[ing] back against state violence.”…
CUAD has it wrong. Khymani James was not criticized for “fighting back against state violence” but for posting “Zionists don’t deserve to live.” That is a call for their murder.
James also responded to this post, writing on X, “Thank you to my comrades for posting this beautiful, powerful letter. I never wrote the neo-liberal apology posted in late April, and I’m glad we’ve set the record straight once and for all. I will not allow anyone to shame me for my politics.”
“Anything I said, I meant it,” he concluded….
There are no surprises here. A Venn diagram would likely show a complete overlap of those who denounce Israel as a “colonial-settler ethnic-cleansing genocidal state” and call for murdering Zionists, with those who celebrate the murder of Charlie Kirk. Khymani James is the outstanding example of this overlap. He was suspended by Columbia in April 2024 for calling for the death of all Zionists, and is not on campus this year. But after his expressions of glee on the death of Kirk, isn’t it time for him to be permanently expelled?