Chairperson Joe Biden marked Passover by condemning anti-Semitism on college campuses as pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University reverberated across the country. “In recent days, we have seen numerous acts of harassment and calls for violence against Jews,” Mr. Biden said in a statement Sunday. “This blatant anti-Semitism is reprehensible and dangerous — and it has absolutely no place on college campuses or anywhere in our country.”
White House spokesman: “While every American has the right to peaceful protest” Andrew Bates rang out separately declare“Calls for violence and physical threats against Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly anti-Semitic, unconscionable and dangerous.”
Their condemnation comes after reports of harassment over the weekend at Columbia, where pro-Palestinian students camped out to protest the school’s financial ties to companies that support or movement in Israel. The language used by some protesters appeared to be anti-Semitic in certain instances, including when a protester appeared to scream told Jewish students that “October 7th will happen every day for you”—a reference to the Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. In response, Rabbi Elie Buechler, director of the Orthodox Jewish group on campus, Encourage Jewish students on Sunday to “return home as soon as possible and stay home until the realities on and around campus improve significantly.” (For its part, Columbia Hillel—another Jewish student organization—rejected Buechler’s warning, though it argued that the school should “do more to ensure the safety of our students.” I.”)
Much of the controversy focused on Columbia’s president Minouche Shafik, who has been criticized for her handling of the encampment, which she addressed last week by authorizing New York police to arrest more than a hundred student protesters. On Sunday, Shafik said that classes would be conducted remotely to “de-escalate the feud.” “Our relationship as a community has been severely tested in ways that will take a great deal of time and effort to reaffirm,” the university president wrote over the weekend, after testifying on Capitol Hill about her efforts to combat anti-Semitism on campus. “We need a reset.”
As conflicts in schools play out, U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have not hesitated to weigh in. “What is happening in Columbia is outrageous and un-American,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson said in one declare. “No student of any race or religion should leave campus because it becomes too dangerous.” Democratic Party Jared Moskowitz Sunday said he was going to campus to “walk with Jewish students,” write: “If the University won’t protect them, Congress will!”
The turmoil wasn’t just happening in Columbia. On Monday, hundreds of people at Yale University held a protest against their university’s ties to Israel, with dozens of arrests reported in the first hours of the protest. , according to this agency’s report. Yale Daily News. Similar pro-Palestinian protests have appeared at the University of Michigan, NYU, Emerson College, MIT and Tufts.
All this student organizing is just the latest flashpoint in the war in Gaza, which has lasted seven months and caused the deaths of more than 34,000 Palestinians. Biden called out the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu restraint, limiting civilian casualties and allowing more aid into Gaza. But Bibi has repeatedly defied Biden’s warnings, and the president has largely refused to change U.S. policy — instead continuing to provide unconditional military aid to Israel. That has led to growing outrage among prominent Democrats “who are frustrated with the Biden administration’s lack of leverage,” like the Oregon senator. Jeff Merkley just told The New York Times‘ Nicholas Kristof.
But that frustration appears to be even more intense among younger Americans, who have expressed disagreement with Biden’s approach to Israel in protests and down votes in the primary — and have could pose a major threat to his re-election prospects. “We demand that our voices be heard against the mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza,” organizers of the Columbia protest said. declare Sunday, condemning “any form of hatred or bigotry” and distancing itself from “inciting individuals” who have engaged in acts of anti-Semitism. “We will stay until we are forced to move by force or Columbia accepts our demands.”
