Columbia University has gone ahead with a new facility in Israel, despite a months-long opposition campaign by dozens of far-left faculty members to scrap the plans.

The Ivy League school announced Monday it will open the Columbia Global Center in Tel Aviv to engage with Israeli scholars amid ongoing political and religious turmoil in the country.

“The Global Centers program was created 14 years ago to create vibrant hubs of activity in intellectually rich and often challenging locations,” Columbia President Lee Bollinger said in a statement.

At least 95 faculty members came out against the center in an open letter — though others circulated a competing letter with 172 signatures in support of the initiative.

Columbia law professor Katherine Franke, who backs the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, authored the letter against the Tel Aviv center.

“The state of Israel, through formal and informal law, policy, and practice, refuses to abide by international human rights laws and norms both domestically and in its treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories,” she wrote on Feb. 16.

Franke also expressed concerns about since-shelved plans by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to overhaul the Jewish State’s judicial system.

“It will be impossible for the University to announce the establishment of this new Global Center and avoid creating the impression that it is endorsing or legitimizing the new government,” she said.

Netanyahu returned to office last fall after being the first Israeli prime minister to face corruption charges for bribery, breach of trust and fraud.

His judicial proposals were halted by widespread street protests in March.

Franke cited “substantial concern about the power of donor money” in the university’s decision to move forward with the center, saying it violated the “principles of faculty governance.”

The law professor runs the university’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Law and authored a similar letter in 2021 that also cited concerns about Israel banning Columbia faculty and students based on their identity or political affiliation.

Israeli authorities barred Franke from entering the country in 2018 over her alleged membership in a pro-BDS group whose members were blacklisted by authorities.

Faculty who support the Tel Aviv Global Center said in a March 8 letter that the university’s decision should not be “determined by political considerations,” either for or against Israel.

“For a country its size, Israel has an unusually rich infrastructure of universities and other scholarly, cultural, religious, scientific, technological, legal, and artistic resources that have intellectual connections to every school at Columbia University,” a letter authored by political science professor Ester Fuchs reads.

The letter notes Columbia maintains 10 other centers in states like China and Jordan — both of which have a far worse human rights record than Israel.

“One does not have to support the policies of the current government of Israel — and many of us do not — to recognize that singling out Israel in this way is unjustified,” the letter states. “To apply a separate standard to Israel — and Israel alone — would understandably be perceived by many as a form of discrimination.”

The statement of support was also signed by Columbia Journalism School’s dean Nicholas Lemann, Columbia Law School’s dean emeritus David Schizer and law professor Matthew Waxman.

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, commended Columbia for pushing through with the plans despite faculty opposition.

“Columbia University’s plan to build an academic center in Tel Aviv is commendable, especially at a moment when Jew hatred is on the rise worldwide. Sadly, a few radical Columbia faculty disagree with this proposal, and they hope to deny their students the chance to learn about the richness of Israel and Judaism,” Lauder told The Post.

“These faculty members have made common cause with other Jew haters and the antisemitic BDS movement—those who attempt to ban books that teach about the Holocaust, erase Jewish identity and symbols, and even physically attack Jewish people,” he said.

“Columbia’s faculty ought to know better, and they must reject such bigotry, especially in an educational setting. I urge Columbia’s leaders to follow through on their original plans, ignore these hateful and misguided voices, and to provide their students the rare opportunity to learn about Israel and about Judaism firsthand.”

“It’s no surprise to see radical professors like Katherine Franke and Rashid Khalidi leading an anti-Israel mob,” said Avi Gordon, Executive Director of Alums for Campus Fairness. “They both have long histories advocating for the antisemitic BDS movement and justifying Palestinian terrorism.

“Professors like Franke and Khalidi are a large part of the reason Columbia has developed a reputation for hostility towards Jewish and pro-Israel students,” Gordon added. “Still, we should give the university credit where credit is due: the Tel Aviv Global Center sounds like a great opportunity for Columbia students and alumni.”

Columbia was one of three New York City higher education institutions — along with New York University and CUNY’s Brooklyn College — that received an F rating for on-campus antisemitism, according to a 2022 report from the watchdog group Stop Antisemitism.

Tel Aviv University has shared a dual-degree program with Columbia University since 2019 — another initiative that faced faculty opposition.