Hedge fund billionaire Leon Cooperman has vowed to stop donating to Columbia University over its response to the war in Israel — as he slammed students protesting the Jewish state as having “s–t for brains.”
Cooperman, who is of Polish-Jewish descent, was asked in an interview with Fox Business’ Liz Claman Wednesday about his thoughts on the student protests at his alma mater — as well as similar demonstrations at other Ivy League universities.
“I think these kids at the colleges have s–t for brains,” he replied bluntly.
“We have one reliable ally in the Middle East — that’s Israel. We only have one democracy in the Middle East — that’s Israel, okay? And we have one economy tolerant of different people — gays, lesbians, etc. And that’s Israel,” the 80-year-old chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors, a New York-based investment firm with over $3.3 billion in assets, continued.
“So I have no idea what these young kids are doing.”
He then went on to say he would stop donating to the school unless he sees a “change” from the administration, which thus far has refused to condemn a tenured professor who called Hamas’ terror attacks against Israel “awesome.”
“Now, the real shame is I’ve given to Columbia probably about $50 million over many years,” Cooperman told Claman. “And I’m going to suspend my giving. I’ll give my giving to other organizations.”
Cooperman also said he told administrators to “fire this professor.”
“I mean, war is hell. War is not good for anybody, but to praise what Hamas did is disgraceful, disgusting.”
The billionaire was referring to comments made by politics and history professor Joseph Massad, who called Hamas’ attacks on Israel a “stunning victory” in an article he published on The Electronic Intifada a day after the conflict ignited.
Almost 60,000 people signed a petition created by 23-year-old student Maya Platek accusing the university of “condoning and supporting terrorism,” and demanding the professor’s removal.
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“Regardless of one’s stance on the conflict, supporting and praising one of the worst acts of terrorism in history is never acceptable,” the petition reads.
A letter of solidarity with Massad was issued in turn, condemning the petition against him and calling on Columbia President Nemat Shafik to “unequivocally guarantee his physical safety and his academic freedom.”
It was signed by over thousands of members of the school’s alumni, staff and student body.
Columbia has repeatedly declined to comment on the matter when contacted by The Post, but some professors have weighed in — including Israeli-American assistant professor Shai Davidai.
He alleged that Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, has not spoken out against the student groups and said he would never allow his daughter to attend the Ivy League school in remarks he posted to YouTube titled “an open letter to every parent in America.”
“The View” star Meghan McCain also said she feels “shame” for having attended Columbia University in NYC because of its “virulent antisemitism.”
“The only thing I can say is they will never get a dime from me. I will never do any speaking engagements with them. Columbia can go to hell as far as I’m concerned,” she said.
“I mean, the virulent antisemitism going on by the students on campus and then the professor coming out saying that he felt ‘invigorated’ by the terror attacks. It’s just not something that should be acceptable in academia.”
On Wednesday, university administrators canceled a student group’s on-campus movie night, after organizers said “Zionists” were not welcome.
“As we have reiterated many times over the past few weeks, antisemitism or any other form of hate will never be tolerated in our community,” a Columbia University spokesperson told The Post
