New mugshot shows Cornell ‘Hamas fighter’ Patrick Dai ahead of court appearance

The self-identified “Hamas fighter” who was busted for allegedly threatening to kill Jews at Cornell University is set to appear in court Wednesday — though his arrest has provided little comfort to students who say they are still “terrified” by the antisemitism they are facing on campus.

Patrick Dai, 21, looked calm in glasses and a white T-shirt in a mugshot released Wednesday after he was identified as the person responsible for threatening 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.

Dai, a junior majoring in engineering at the prestigious university, is expected to appear in federal court in Syracuse around 2:30 p.m. to face charges, which could land him in jail for up to five years.

He is accused of making disturbing online threats under usernames like “Hamas fighter,” “jew evil” and “glorious Hamas,” according to an indictment, which charges him with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications.

He also allegedly threatened to “bring an assault rifle to campus” and “rape and kill all the jew women before they birth more Jewish Hitlers,” according to the indictment.

Upon hearing news of the bust, Josh Rosenheim, who works at the Center of Jewish Living on the Ithaca campus, said students’ “immediate reaction was horror and shock.

“In the last three weeks, we have all felt many emotions,” he told Fox News Digital. “We’ve been very sad, extremely sad, depressed, sometimes angry and a little bit fearful.

“But this was the first time, I think, that the students were legitimately terrified.”

Engineering student Sam Friedman also said the threats “really were … quite evil.

“To see not only a generic antisemitic sentiment, but an antisemitic threat that’s directly targeting a building that you frequently go to, I mean that was horrifying.”

One college girl, a sophomore studying biology, said she even fled campus after the threats were made over the weekend.

Following Dai’s arrest for posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications on Tuesday, Netanel Shapira said: “It’s both scary and sad that a member of our own campus community could be so hateful.”

“To see that a student believes and was willing to make comments such as these shows that Jew-hatred can be anywhere and everywhere, even among our fellow students.”

He added that it was “scary to think” that a student at an Ivy League school could “believe in that.”

But, Shapira and other Jewish students say his arrest brings little comfort, as they have also faced a professor who called Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel “exhilarating” and “energizing,” as well as a series of pro-Hamas demonstrations since the war began.

“It’s taking a very, very large toll on people’s mental health, whether it’s feeling personally unsafe on campus or even just not being able to focus on things,” said the sophomore studying biology, who asked Fox News not to be identified.

“The first week when we got back, I wasn’t able to go to class. I wasn’t able to work,” she said. “I have to compartmentalize to be here right now. Like, otherwise, I really cannot be functioning.”

Shapira also said the Jewish people “suffered this horrible massacre.

“Every one of  us… knows somebody who’s either a hostage, was murdered or is a soldier going to defend the state of Israel.

“And after suffering something like that … [we have] hate speech thrown [at us] on campus, whether that be from a professor or… from students, I mean it’s horrible. There’s no other way to put it.”

Amanda Silberstein went even further — criticizing university professors she said spread propaganda against Israel in response to Dai’s arrest.

“Upon discovering that the suspect was, in fact, a fellow student at Cornell, rather than an anonymous individual unaffiliated with the university, the situation took on a heightened sense of reality.

“It’s a stark acknowledgment that harmful ideologies and antisemitic rhetoric persist and spread.

“This includes the propagation of untruths, the denial of atrocities, the tolerance of hate speech, the repetition of propaganda by some professors, and the falsehoods that anti-Zionism is anything other than a form of hatred against the Jewish community.”

The Post has reached out to Cornell University officials for comment.

But following Dai’s arrest Tuesday, Joel Malina, Cornell’s vice president for university relations, said: “We remain shocked by and condemn these horrific, antisemitic threats and believe they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. 

“We know that our campus community will continue to support one another in the days ahead,” he said, adding that the school will maintain its “heightened security presence on campus.”