The White House on Sunday condemned calls for “violence and physical intimidation against Jewish students” as protests continue at US colleges, including the latest demonstration at Columbia University in New York.
“While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation against Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly anti-Semitic, unscrupulous, and dangerous – they have absolutely no place on any college campus, or in any place of the United States of America,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement shared with The Hill.
“And echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms,” he continued.
The statement came shortly after reports circulated Sunday that a rabbi associated with Columbia University sent a message to 300 Jewish students to leave campus, return home and remain there before the start of Passover, the Jewish holiday that begins Monday night.
The Hillel campus countered this claim, writing on social platform“We do not believe that Jewish students should leave @Columbia. We believe the University and the City need to do more to ensure the safety of our students.”
Protests have been ongoing at Columbia University since last week, when dozens of pro-Palestine protesters set up an encampment with dozens of tents on campus. Columbia University President Minouche Shafik later authorized the New York Police Department to help remove the camp.
More than 100 protesters were taken into custody, NBC News reported last week.
All college students involved in the demonstration were informed that they were suspended, according to school officials.
Among those suspended was Isra Hirsi, daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Hirsi is a student at Barnard College, which is connected to Columbia but has some independence.
A number of U.S. colleges have faced a rise in demonstrations and protests in the months following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that left about 1,200 people dead in southern Israel and about 250 others taken hostage.
Israel responded with bombing of Gaza, which killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health.
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