The White House condemned the violent takeover Tuesday of a building at Columbia University by pro-Palestinian activists who had previously been warned to take down their encampment or face suspension from the institution.
The occupation of a building, which included three janitors being held hostage, was just the latest among dozens of protests and riots at universities across the company, some of which have included antisemitic rhetoric and violence.
Notably, Biden blamed then-President Donald Trump for a wave of violence in 2020 when the Black Lives Matter movement, which was backed by Democrats, launched protests that turned into riots in dozens of American cities.
“Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?” Biden said in August 2020.
Biden also supported anti-Israel protesters last week, saying while he condemned antisemitism, he also condemned those who did not understand the Palestinians’ grievances — implying that the activists had a legitimate point.
The Times of Israel noted:
US President Joe Biden opposes last night’s takeover of a building at Columbia University by anti-Israel protesters, the White House says.
“The president believes that forcibly taking over a building on campus is absolutely the wrong approach. That is not an example of peaceful protest,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says during a press briefing.
“Hate speech and hate symbols have no place in this country,” Kirby adds.
Protesters have echoed some of the Biden administration’s own talking points. Biden has blamed Israel, without evidence, for Palestinian civilian deaths, and the State Department said this week that five Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units had committed human rights abuses before the current war.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.