US students express disappointment with Biden’s comments on Gaza Encampments

President Joe Biden said “order must prevail” on college campuses in the United States, just hours after police raided another campus and dismantled a protest camp in support of the Palestinians.

In a brief news conference on Thursday, Biden said the right to freedom of expression and the rule of law “must be preserved” but stressed that “violent protest is not protected.”

Vandalism, trespassing, smashing windows, closing campuses, being forced to cancel classes and graduations — none of this is a peaceful protest. He said threatening, intimidating, and spreading fear in people is not a peaceful protest.

Biden continued: Opposition is essential to democracy, but opposition must never lead to chaos or the denial of the rights of others so that students can finish the semester and their college education. There is a right to protest but not the right to cause chaos.

Biden’s comments came shortly after police arrested at least 132 student protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles, early Thursday and evacuated an encampment.

UCLA is among dozens of US universities where students have set up camps over the past few weeks to demand an end to the Israeli war on Gaza. Many of them are also demanding that their schools divest from any company complicit in Israeli violations.

Protesters are detained on the UCLA campus on May 2. The protests have been met with backlash from university administrators, as well as lawmakers and pro-Israel groups.

Students and observers on Thursday quickly criticized Biden’s statement as a failure to acknowledge that US colleges and universities have invited heavily armed police on their campuses to break up peaceful demonstrations.

Recent arrests of students and faculty at the University of California and New York’s Columbia University, among other universities, have drawn widespread condemnation.

However, Biden did not comment in his brief speech on university policies or police use of force. He also did not comment on reports that pro-Israel protesters did so and attacked pro-Palestinian protesters at a UCLA camp this week.

Instead, he said there was no place on campus “for anti-Semitism or threats of violence against Jewish students.” But the student demonstrators rejected accusations that their camps are anti-Semitic or pose a threat.

There is (a sense of) disappointment, but there is no surprise, Callie, a student demonstrator at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., said of Biden’s comments.

For the Biden administration to demonize us in this way is incredibly disappointing. It marks a target on the backs of Arab, Muslim, Palestinian and anti-Zionist youth.

Political reaction:

Biden has faced months of widespread anger and mass protests against his unwavering support for Israel during the Gaza war.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since early October. The besieged enclave is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, and the UN Supreme Court said the war raised a reasonable risk of genocide.

The US President, seeking re-election in November, faces growing discontent among young voters.

Biden’s support rate is 28 percent among voters under 30, according to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center released last week.

A recent poll conducted showed that 81% of voters under the age of 35 disapprove of Biden’s handling of the Israeli war on Gaza.

Democratic President Support for Israel Experts said the condemnation of student protests and silence on mass arrests and violence against demonstrators might fuel youth indifference — if not hatred — toward him.

The loss of an entire generation:

Experts say young voters could be critical to Biden’s prospects in November, as he faces a potential rematch against Republican rival Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

In a close race, as expected in the November election, low turnout could spell trouble for the incumbent Democratic nominee.

Hassan Piyaralli — president of the Muslim Caucus of the College of American Democrats, the university arm of the Democratic Party — said he was disappointed by Biden’s comments on Thursday.

In our view, it is not only an excellent policy to oppose genocide; It’s a good policy. “Neither of them did, and we’re disappointed to see that,” said Pierali, a senior at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

He added that it was disappointing to hear Biden say that he would not reconsider his Middle East policy due to the student protests.

We are here to announce that if he does not change course, there is a real risk that we (Democrats) will lose in 2024,” Biyaralli said.

He also said more than the possibility of Trump winning in November would be needed to convince young voters to vote for Biden. “It is not our job to make sure Trump does not return; “It’s about Biden and his campaign,” he said.

Now he has to move on. If he wants to continue down the unpopular, unjust, genocidal path, he certainly can – he is the President of the United States. But he risks losing an entire generation of voters and risking the 2024 elections.