In one of the uglier cases of blatant anti-Semitism that has reared its vile head on college campuses since the October 7th invasion of Israel and massacre of innocents, Cornell University saw vicious death threats against Jewish students posted online last weekend.

The death threats were very specific, and the locations mentioned were also shockingly specific.

Screenshots hit social media Sunday of heinous messages posted in a Cornell University discussion forum over the weekend calling for the murder of Jewish students and making specific threats.

Among messages declaring “Allahuh Akbar” and “Glory to Hamas” and calling for slitting the throats of Jewish students over the war, one message specifically singled out the building at 104 West, which houses the kosher dining hall and Center for Jewish Living.

Given the state of academia and their pro-Hamas rhetoric at the moment, and the fact that Cornell already has one professor, Russell Rickford, “on leave” after he called the massacre of Israeli children “exhilarating,” I would say that the Cornell campus has an anti-Semitism problem. The university president responded with a letter stating that law enforcement was investigating these threats.

Yesterday, an arrest was made, and the Department of Justice statement makes it clear that they are not messing around, but only for one very specific reason. See if you can spot it.

Patrick Dai, age 21, a junior at Cornell University who is originally from Pittsford, New York, was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint charging him with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Alfred Watson, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); New York State Police Acting Superintendent Dominick L. Chiumento; and Cornell University Police Chief Anthony Bellamy.

The complaint alleges that Dai posted threatening messages to the Cornell section of an online discussion site, including posts calling for the deaths of Jewish people and a post that said “gonna shoot up 104 west.” According to information provided by Cornell University Police and other public information, 104 West is a Cornell University dining hall that caters predominantly to Kosher diets and is located next to the Cornell Jewish Center, which provides residences for Cornell students. In another post, Dai allegedly threatened to “stab” and “slit the throat” of any Jewish males he sees on campus, to rape and throw off a cliff any Jewish females, and to behead any Jewish babies. In that same post, Dai threatened to “bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot all you pig jews.” The charges and the allegations in the complaint are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The charge filed against Dai carries a maximum term of 5 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.

The reason that the FBI and the New York State Police took this threat seriously is because of the “assault rifle” threat. I have a sneaking suspicion that if Patrick Dai had (allegedly) stuck to using only threats involving a knife (stabbing, slitting throats, beheading), then law enforcement would have investigated it, but probably not with the same amount of urgency.

And now we ask the question: who is Patrick Dai, and why would he allegedly make these threats to his fellow Cornell students?

Patrick Dai, a junior at the prestigious university, was arrested by federal authorities Tuesday for allegedly making a string of disturbing online posts over the weekend threatening to kill and rape Jewish students and to “bring an assault rifle to campus.”

Investigators traced the deranged posts to Dai’s IP address at his off-campus apartment, where he allegedly admitted to being the culprit, according to a federal complaint.

Dai’s parents, however, believe their son is innocent.

“My son is in severe depression. He cannot control his emotion well due to the depression. No, I don’t think he committed the crime,” his father, who asked that his name not be used, told The Post in a text message.

Dai sank into a deep depression in 2021, one year after he started his engineering studies at the prestigious university, his parents said.

Dai underwent a dramatic change after just one year, his parents said — though they adamantly emphasized that he never had a history of violence.

“He was always very nice to society, well organized, helpful to my family and his classmates before 2021,” his father said.

“He told us he lost his life goal and motivation … As parents, we tried to give him more love.”

At the suggestion of a doctor, Dai took off two semesters from his studies — in the spring of 2022 and 2023 — to try to recuperate, but struggled to regain his ambition.

Dai’s communications with his parents went dark just days before his arrest, around the time he allegedly posted the unhinged threats to “shoot up 104 West,” a university dining hall that caters predominantly to kosher diets, and to “slit the throat” of any Jewish men he came across.

“My wife called him or sent messages to him many times but got no answers. She was worrying that he may commit suicide and drove to his apartment to see what happened,” Dai’s father said.

By the time she made the 80-mile trip to the Ithaca building, Dai had already been arrested.

Instead of her son, she saw several police officers stationed outside her son’s college home.

Although they don’t believe their son is responsible for the antisemitic posts, Dai’s parents theorize his depression is somehow linked to the case.

When asked what the connection would be, Dai’s father said: “Please contact his doctor for this question. It is too complicated for me.”

According to Patrick Dai's LinkedIn account, he served as a "safety officer" at Cornell.

Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/YtOC2LnPS3

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) November 1, 2023

Well, that’s a lot to unpack, isn’t it? Let’s have a go at it.

First of all, this story will likely get buried nationally because Patrick Dai is Asian. If he had been white, this would have given the media their preferred angle of “white supremacy” that they are always looking to insert into the narrative. But since Dai is not white, the media will lose interest quickly.

Second, we have a claim of “depression” from Dai’s parents, and that he even took time off from Cornell in order to deal with his mental health. However, in one breath they claim a defense of “depression,” and in the second breath they claim that he didn’t do it. Can’t have it both ways, parents. I have a feeling that, like many college students, the COVID lockdowns could have undermined Patrick Dai’s “motivation,” and like so many others, he became clinically depressed. We don’t know what treatment was pursued other than a “break” from Cornell, and we don’t know if Dai was on any medication. However, I know a little something about Asian parents who expect a lot from their children, and this one was an engineering major at an Ivy League university. Let’s just say that there are certain expectations and demands from parents once that level of prestige is achieved. Patrick Dai was likely felt – or was told by his parents – that quitting was not an option, but apparently his parents were concerned enough that they thought he might attempt suicide. I have a feeling that a psychologist is going to eventually be on the witness stand for this one. And I would really like to hear what the Dai family definition of “more love” was in this case, because I suspect the father might be equating “love” with “smothering attention.”

Third, law enforcement is going to be checking whether or not Patrick Dai actually had access to a firearm. If he didn’t, then that will likely change the tenor of the case. However, if he had no arrest record, then Dai could have potentially gotten his hands on a firearm eventually. The question will be about whether or not he had immediate access to one. Although I would argue that the knife threats are actually more serious, because he had ready access to those. It just wouldn’t have been a “mass shooting event” that would have been all over the news.

Fourth, Cornell needs to take a long hard look at itself. What did they think would happen when they have professors who openly celebrate the murder of Israelis teaching in the classroom? I want to know if Patrick Dai ever sat in one of Russell Rickford’s history classes. Somehow, Dai thought he could get away with making these threats on a forum accessed by his peers. Why did he think that? Where did he pick up the attitudes and the language that he allegedly spewed all over the internet for all to see? Is this something his parents believe? Or was this something he picked up at Cornell, fueled by professors who have long held pro-Hamas views, and a campus that had a pro-Hamas protest before Israel started actually fighting back? Remember, the “pro-Palestinian rally” that Rickford made his disgusting comments at was held on October 15th, barely one week after the massacre and before Israel began to strike back at Hamas. Cornell, you have an anti-Semitism problem that may have just given birth to the radicalization of a student, and are you going to expel him, if he is found guilty? Or will you allow him to remain a student?

We can be grateful that law enforcement acted quickly in this case. But how many more Patrick Dais are out there, chanting this shit at rallies and protests on college campuses, and not putting them in writing? Too many. Too damn many. And defunding the universities is the only way to make this stop.

Featured image: composite image of Cornell University sign (via Marc Smith on Wikipedia Commons, cropped, Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED) and photo of Patrick Dai (from the Twitter/X account StopAntisemitism)