Guess who is leading the protest at Columbia University. Khymani James.
Does that name ring a bell? He's the student who said on his social media account that Zionists shouldn't be allowed to live. He is supposed to be banned from campus, yet, here he is.
Oh, look who was leading this effort.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 30, 2024
Khymani “all Zionists should die” James. Someone allegedly banned from campus, but Columbia isn’t enforcing their rules.
pic.twitter.com/L9FXY0JEeS
He allegedly led this effort.
Student is assaulted by mob. @NYPDDaughtry Many students have called the police but where are you???
— Jessica Schwalb (@jessicaschwalb7) April 30, 2024
We are in danger. pic.twitter.com/ghZWuMgb6y
Why does Columbia University bother to make rules? Rules are not enforced and rioting, violent students, and outside agitators act with impunity. Jazz explained the current lawless environment on Columbia's campus earlier today. If you haven't read it yet, go do that.
Columbia's faculty is part of the problem.
NOW: Columbia University faculty link arms and form a wall in front of the entrance to the ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ as hundreds of students encircle the both lawns
— katie smith (@probablyreadit) April 29, 2024
Students remaining in the encampment were told they could face disciplinary action after 2PM pic.twitter.com/C1XRgHzs8b
We are watching the results of the far-left's takeover of higher education. For several decades Marxists in universities and colleges across the country have been in charge of educating the next generation. Antisemitism grew. It was mostly underground until the Israel-Hamas war began after October 7, 2023. The youngest adults on many campuses now view Israel as evil. They claim to identify as Hamas themselves. This is a dangerous time in America, thanks to the rising generation's brainwashing by their professors.
I don't want to paint all college students with a broad brush. The majority are not on campus protesting Israel and Jews or wishing death to America. The loud ones, the violent ones are getting all the attention. The demonstrators have taken over Columbia University and school officials are allowing it to continue. Why? Does the university president side with the demonstrators? Does she think Jewish students do not have a right to safety on campus? She is charged with protecting all students.
What happened to never again? Where are the adults? Shouldn't the educated elite know that history will not be kind to this point in time?
These mostly white elitists-in-training are keeping Jewish students off campus.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat who is solidly pro-Israel, posted this.
So much for “peaceful protests” at Columbia University.
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) April 30, 2024
Violence is not a bug but a feature of the pro-Hamas encampment movement, which has a deep rot of Anti-Americanism and AntiSemitism at its core. pic.twitter.com/rMYwAj3rYd
This isn't a protest. It is a riot. It is anarchy. This isn't about free speech. It's about destroying America.
Where is President Biden? He has mostly remained silent. He's too cowardly to be firm in supporting the majority of students who do not protest. Biden wants to pander to Muslim Arab Americans for votes in November.
Last week, Politico wrote about the Biden administration's lack of concern over campus protests. The Biden administration is willing to gamble that it won't be a big issue in November for voters, especially young voters.
More broadly, the Biden political brain trust just isn’t stressing out about what’s roiling the groves of academe — viewing it as an obsession of a subset of the electorate and a phenomenon that’s drawn a disproportionate amount of media coverage to its actual political relevance. As one campaign official who works on youth engagement put it, “It’s not going to be for the vast majority of young voters the thing that’s going to determine whether they vote or how they vote.”
Other Democrats are not so sanguine. “Anything that brings chaos to the Democratic brand is detrimental to the Biden campaign,” former DCCC executive director DAN SENA said, as Biden begins a stretch where he’s planning to deliver several commencement addresses as antiwar activists continue to organize with some eyeing mass disruptions to the Democratic National Convention in August.
A more particular fear is that anti-Biden views might be becoming increasingly entrenched inside the relatively small but crucial youth voting bloc — views like those of his Columbia University student who spoke to POLITICO about her eroding faith in the president: “I was excited to vote out a fascist from government [in 2020]. And in hindsight, I guess I see that I was just putting someone who’s a little bit less evil, but evil nonetheless.”
Team Biden is making a big mistake with this gamble and silence from the president. That's fine with me but it makes the United States look weak on the world stage and that is not ok. This is giving Hamas aid and comfort. Do these elite brats think they would be allowed to protest in Gaza? They could in Israel but not in Gaza. Columbia University is said to be the most expensive school in the country. Students are not getting the education they are paying for, that's for sure.
A White House deputy press secretary released a statement this morning.
Via @Kevinliptakcnn: the WH condemns demonstrators taking over academic buildings, saying Biden "protests must be peaceful and lawful."
— DJ Judd (@DJJudd) April 30, 2024
"Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful – it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America." -@AndrewJBates46 pic.twitter.com/qelac8Ox8D
It isn't from the president. It's from his communication team. This president is as feckless as the president of Columbia University.
Biden is delivering two commencement addresses this graduation season. He isn't up to doing more. Nonetheless, he could address the nation from the Oval Office about the protests. Whether he and his campaign want to admit it, the situation is dangerous and not improving. The hate and violence are growing. Where are the grown-ups we were promised?
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