Patrick Dai: Former Cornell Student Admits To Putting Jewish Students on Campus in Danger Online

The U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday that a former Cornell University student had entered a guilty plea to making threats online against Jewish students on campus, including threats of murder and death.

Late last year, Patrick Dai, 21, opened a new tab after he was charged for threatening Jewish students at an Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York, online.
Since the Israel-Gaza conflict broke out on October 7, American government representatives and civil society organizations have issued warnings about growing threats against American Jews, Muslims, and Arabs.

Dai said that he had threatened to bomb, stab, and rape Jews in the Cornell area of an online discussion forum on October 28 and 29, as part of his guilty plea.
Dai’s threats “caused widespread panic and fear” among Cornell’s Jewish community, according to the Justice Department.

On August 12, a sentencing hearing is planned. According to the Justice Department, Dai may be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, compensation to the victims, and up to three years of supervised release. Dai’s contact information was not readily available.
Since October 7, when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel and killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and ignited Israel’s offensive in Hamas-governed Gaza, which has killed over 33,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, U.S. President Joe Biden has denounced the growing antisemitism and Islamophobia.