US President Joe Biden has criticized anti-Israel protests on campuses, saying such “blatant anti-Semitism” is “reprehensible and harmful.” His assertion got here amid an ongoing pro-Palestinian uproar at Columbia College, the place the disaster prompted a rabbi to induce Jewish college students to remain dwelling till the tense ambiance on the Ivy League faculty subsided.
Though Biden didn’t point out Columbia College in his assertion launched by the White Home, he emphasised that anti-Semitism “has completely no place on faculty campuses or wherever in our nation.”
The protests, which have been ongoing for days, coincide with the Jewish Passover vacation, which is a seven-day celebration commemorating the mass exodus of Jews from Egypt.
The US president mentioned Jews all over the world are nonetheless grappling with the horrors of Hamas’s assault on Israel on October 7, 2023. “This Passover falls significantly exhausting on hostage households making an attempt to honor the spirit of vacation, a narrative centered on freedom. Whereas their family members stay in captivity, our hearts exit to all of the victims, survivors, relations and associates whose family members have been killed, taken hostage, injured, displaced or are in peril,” added his assertion.
He mentioned his administration would proceed to talk out and “aggressively implement the primary Nationwide Technique to Counter Antisemitism” to offer the Jewish group with the complete assist of the federal authorities.
Joe Biden’s assertion got here hours after the White Home launched one other independently, condemning “violence and bodily intimidation in opposition to Jewish college students and the Jewish group.” White Home deputy press secretary Andrew Bates known as such acts “anti-Semitic, unconscionable and harmful” after movies emerged exhibiting pro-Palestinian activists telling Jewish college students that October 7 “will probably be day by day for you.” “.
The Columbia College disaster escalated just lately after college officers testified earlier than the US Congress final week about anti-Semitism on campus, prompting elevated pro-Palestinian demonstrations on and close to campus.
On April 19, college president Nemat Minouche Shafik licensed the New York Police Division (NYPD) to conduct a raid on a camp of pro-Palestinian protesters, resulting in the arrest of 108 protesters. The college additionally suspended the daughter of controversial US Congress member Ilhan Omar over the protest.
Even then, protests continued into the weekend, with demonstrators organising tents to participate within the uproar. About 200 demonstrators protested on Saturday, in keeping with The New York Submit.
The stress prompted Rabbi Elie Buechler, related to the Ivy League faculty’s Orthodox Union Jewish Campus Studying Initiative, to “strongly” suggest about 300 – principally Orthodox Jewish college students – return dwelling and They’d keep there. He despatched a WhatsApp message to those college students, CNN reported.
“It pains me deeply to say that I strongly suggest that you just return dwelling as quickly as potential and keep dwelling till the fact on and round campus has improved dramatically,” the message mentioned, in keeping with the CNN report.
Nonetheless, the Hillel Middle for Jewish Life at Columbia College and Barnard Faculty rejected the rabbi’s recommendation, though they acknowledged the rising disaster on the college. In a press release on
