Columbia Professor Shai Davidai’s Family Tied to Weapons Manufacturing

After throwing a foot-stomping tantrum earlier this morning, Shai Davidai, an untenured Columbia University business professor, was denied access to campus. A proud Zionist, Davidai is an Israeli-American who served in the IDF (and is “proud of it“) and has continually harassed Pro-Palestine protestors on campus, labeling them as anti-semitic pro-Hamas “terrorists.” Davidai also called More

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Shai Davidai.

After throwing a foot-stomping tantrum earlier this morning, Shai Davidai, an untenured Columbia University business professor, was denied access to campus. A proud Zionist, Davidai is an Israeli-American who served in the IDF (and is “proud of it“) and has continually harassed Pro-Palestine protestors on campus, labeling them as anti-semitic pro-Hamas “terrorists.”

Davidai also called for the National Guard to be brought in to brutalize the pro-Palestine students and recently characterized Columbia students as “Hitler-youth.”

Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine have started a petition to have him fired.

There is a laundry list of complaints lodged against Davidai, most recently by the 15 Jewish students at Columbia who were arrested and suspended last week during their occupation protest, calling on the school to divest funds from Israel. In a Jewish Voice for Peace Instagram post, the students called out Davidai, writing:

“Futhermore, the disgraceful Shai Davidai publically called us Judenrat Kapost, and told us we would be on ‘the last train to Auschwitz.’ We do not feel safe with this professor still teaching on campus, having access to the Jewish community spaces we cherish, much less portraying himself as a valiant protector and spokesperson of Jews on campus while insulting our ancestors’ memory. Almost every suspended Jewish student los family members in the Holocaust.”

Davidai comes from a long line of assholes. His father, Eli Davidai, is a wealthy Israeli business executive who has served as General Manager of ARC, which describes itself as a “leading global advanced manufacturing service provider.”

According to ARC’s SEC filing:

“Eli Davidai, [ARC’s] General Manager of Operations as of May 2017, has been a Managing Director at QMI [Quadrant Management Inc.] since 1992, where he is responsible for making investments and overseeing companies at the firm.  Additionally, Mr. Davidai was elected to the Company’s Board of Directors on June 5, 2018.”

ARC manufactures weapons parts, including “polymer magazine for NATO Compatible weapons,” “triggers and hammers,” “precision guided munitions components,” and more.

In 2016, ARC won an award for an AR-15 component and, in 2010, scored a prize for an “explosive device made for a Department of Defense application.”

ARC also makes parts for MCX and MPX rifles, which are used by the Israeli military.

Shai’s parents are extremely wealthy; Eli and his wife, Zohara Davidai, have sponsored the Arrhythmia Center in Tel Hashomer, Israel, where Benjamin Netanyahu was fitted for a pacemaker last year.

Interestingly, as exposed @cholent_lover on X, Eli Davidai is also in business with Alan Quasha, who is CEO of Quadrant Management and on the Board of Directors of ARC. Quasha is an interesting character, an international businessman and venture capitalist who is worth billions. It’s nearly impossible to keep track of his dealings. Still, Quasha has had his hands in everything from Harken Energy (where George W. Bush was accused of insider trading as he sat on Harken’s Board) to his connections to the Saudis, US intelligence, and even the Clintons.

Quasha is also the founder of Quadrant Security Strategies, which “makes equity investments in innovative and emerging private companies that support US National Security.”

To top it off, Shai Davidai’s grandfather, Benny Davidai (a founder of El Al Airlines), was a notorious strikebreaker.

The apple doesn’t fall far, as they say…

Meanwhile, as pro-Palestine protests spread across US campuses, Columbia faculty walked out this afternoon in a massive show of solidarity with students.

Image by Columbia University, Associate Professor Hiba Bou Akar.

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