The unprecedented wave of anti-Israel college campus protests nationwide has Americans on alert and universities weighing safety concerns ahead of graduation ceremonies.
Police have arrested nearly 2,200 agitators and students during nationwide antisemitic, pro-Palestinian protests in recent days.
Anti-Israel protesters covered and defaced a statue of George Washington at George Washington University in D.C. (Credit: Mario Gonzalez/CBN News)
And President Biden finally condemned the chaos after days of criticism for not speaking out.
“Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest,” Biden said. “It’s against the law. Dissent is essential to democracy. But dissent must never lead to disorder or to denying the rights of others so students can finish a semester and their college education.”
While many demonstrations began peacefully, the tone quickly escalated. At Columbia University, police stormed a university building that had been taken over by rioters, arresting nearly 300. In California, authorities disbanded a UCLA encampment after arresting at least 200 protestors.
A protester is escorted out of a pro-Palestinian encampment, May 2, 2024, after the UCLA campus was heavily vandalized. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
CBN’s Tara Mergener observed one protest scene at George Washington University, gathering steam and support as of Friday from pro-Palestinian activists. “You can hear protestors shouting from the metal barricades they tore down and then placed the Palestinian flag on top – all around are dozens of tents scattered about with both students and non-students camping out around the clock,” Mergener reported.
At colleges in New York City, the NYPD discovered disturbing signs with terrorist statements such as “Death to America” when they cleared out the encampments:
NYPD reveals protestors in NYC had signs with pro-terrorist statements such as “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” https://t.co/1buVfCMTBI
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Jonas Du, editor-in-chief at Columbia’s Sundial magazine, tells CBN these protestors won’t stop at anything short of dropping any investments in companies doing business in Israel. “Any company doing business in Israel, especially Israel’s government,” said Du. “So that includes companies like Alphabet and Amazon. Also, Airbnb hosts homes in settlements in the West Bank.”
Northwestern University grad student Susan Radov represents at least 300 Jewish students in the Kellogg School of Management, telling CBN News she’s been spit on while walking to class – hearing students scream ‘death to Jews.’
(Credit: Mario Gonzalez/CBN News)
“That’s clearly antisemitism,” said Radov. “It’s really quite shocking to see these kids and a lot of adults and community members trying to make this a very black and white issue, act like experts on the issue when they’re not, and then virtue signal to others – and shame others who are not with them. I’ve heard of friendships that have been broken over this.”
All of this played out while bipartisan lawmakers in the House passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act on Wednesday, securing stronger protection for Jewish students subject to harassment, intimidation, and violence. The act also adopted a formal definition of antisemitism as a certain perception of Jews which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.
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“When you hear ‘From the River to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ that is calling for the eradication of Jews and the state of Israel,” said Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), co-sponsor of the bipartisan bill.
USC has canceled its main stage graduation ceremony due to campus protests. Meanwhile, several others are considering similar measures due to safety concerns.
Anti-Israel protest at George Washington University in D.C. (Credit: Mario Gonzalez/CBN News)