Biden condemns protests

Over the past weeks, President Biden remained conspicuously silent as protests erupted on college campuses across America. From Columbia on the East Coast to UCLA on the West, pro-Palestinian protesters have been chanting rallying cries for a ceasefire in Gaza and urging their colleges to divest from Israel.

The media have been manufacturing interest by covering these protests like slow-motion train wrecks. That is the spirit in which former President Trump mocked Biden’s silence during a campaign rally yesterday. And it looks like he goaded or shamed Biden to finally speak out today. 

‘Dissent is essential for democracy,’ he said at the White House. ‘But dissent must never lead to disorder.’

Tensions have been building for days as demonstrators refuse to remove campus encampments and administrators turn to police to clear them by force, leading to clashes that have seized attention from politicians and the media. Biden said he did not support calls to send in the National Guard. He also said that the protests have not prompted him to reconsider his approach to the war.

(The Associated Press, May 2, 2024)

Biden is right, of course. And it hardly matters that students are allowing violent anarchists to hijack their peaceful protests. What’s more, college presidents are right to call in the police when pro-Palestinian students begin behaving like Nazi Brownshirts, making Jewish students too afraid to attend classes. 

Biden won’t reconsider unconditional support for Israel

A reporter asked Biden if these campus protests would prompt him to change his unconditional support for Israel. He responded with a defiant “No!” That undermined everything he said about civil order and the rule of law. 

After all, the US is doing more to help Israel commit genocidal crimes against Palestinians than Iran is doing to help Russia commit them against Ukrainians. The irony and hypocrisy afoot is almost too damning for words. 

Frankly, Biden is sacrificing his presidency to save Netanyahu’s premiership. Worse still, Biden is allowing Netanyahu to make the US complicit in genocide. And, while the eyes of the world are focused on Gaza, Israeli soldiers and settlers are committing similar crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank. 

Meanwhile, it took Biden way too long to call for a ceasefire. Yet, Netanyahu never misses an opportunity to say or do something that mocks Biden’s call.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to launch an incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering from the almost 7-month-long war, just as cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas appear to be gaining steam.

(The Associated Press, April 30, 2024)

This shows why I’ve argued that Netanyahu seems to think justice for the October 7 Hamas attacks is doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to the Jews. Moreover, he seems determined to bomb every building to effectively drive Palestinians out of Gaza forever, effectuating a Nakba 2.0.

But nothing betrays Israel’s intent to commit war crimes quite like it blockading humanitarian relief, which has millions in Gaza facing starvation. And nothing betrays America’s intent to enable Israel quite like it airdropping food and building a port to compensate for Israel’s inhumane blockade. 

It’s also notable that Netanyahu has no compunction about pandering to the right-wing Zionists in his Cabinet. Granted, he needs their support to hold onto power. But he’s acutely aware that they are committed to exterminating all Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. 

No doubt, Netanyahu also fears that ending the war could restart his criminal trial, likely landing him in jail. Hence, he’s perpetuating this genocidal onslaught by any means necessary, disregarding the two-state solution and even the safety of Israeli hostages.

Netanyahu is turning Jews everywhere into scared pariahs

Frankly, the way Israel is treating the US amounts to a tail-wagging-the-dog tragedy. Pro-Palestinian protesters on campuses are calling on Biden to at least condition US aid. But Biden needs to go further.

He needs to do what Sen. Chuck Schumer famously did. He’s the highest-ranking politician in America. Yet Schumer took to the floor of the US Senate and called for Israel to get rid of Netanyahu. For his part, Jewish Sen. Bernie Sanders, the former Democratic presidential candidate, is calling for Biden to cut off all aid to Israel.

Biden could note that Israelis have been protesting for months, making student protests in the US seem like picnics. The central rallying cry among Israeli protesters? Netanyahu must go!

That’s why it’s so incomprehensible that Biden is acting as if he is more pro-Israel than Schumer or Sanders. But all he has to show for that support are protests of the kind that doomed LBJ’s reelection campaign in 1968.

Metastasizing antisemitism

Antisemitism is animating and undermining pro-Palestinian protests from Australia to America. That has Jews everywhere feeling unsafe, ominously reminiscent of the way they must have felt in 1930s Germany. Even sanctioned Russians must feel welcomed everywhere by comparison. 

And here’s the sad irony: pro-Palestinian students are shouting antisemitic slurs at Jewish students who support their cause, just as Hamas terrorists slaughtered Israelis who support a two-state solution.

Ultimately, though, Netanyahu’s to blame. I cannot overstate that. After all, his Faustian collusion with Hamas led to the attacks of October 7 in the first place. Now, his diabolical vengeance has him waging a genocidal war in Gaza to save his own hide. 

The solution to campus protests

It’s simple: Colleges should engage independent polling agencies — mutually agreed upon by administration and student organizations — to set up voting portals for verified students, faculty, and alumni. These portals would enable the campus community to democratically decide on contentious issues, from divestment to DEI policies.

To ensure the integrity of this process, it’s crucial to obtain public commitments from all participants to abide by the results, regardless of the outcome.

This approach would prevent the selective acceptance of results that mirrors Trump’s behavior. It would also promote a culture of respect for democratic processes and set a precedent for other institutions grappling with similar disputes.