WASHINGTON — After days of silence from President Joe Biden over the eruption of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the country, his decision to speak out on Thursday served as an acknowledgment that it was inevitable to stay quiet for much longer, according to three people familiar with the decision, as Americans saw non-stop footage of students clashing with authorities.
Biden offered nothing new about the White House’s stance on the riots. He strongly condemned the violent behavior, while imploring protesters to keep their actions peaceful and legal.
“We’ve all seen the images,” Biden said, referring to the standoffs at UCLA and Columbia University that escalated over the previous 24 hours after police removed and arrested hundreds of protesters from the encampments.
“There is a right to protest, but not a right to cause chaos,” Biden added. He made the comments shortly before leaving for a day trip to North Carolina, where aides expected he would be bombarded with questions about the protests.
On Wednesday night, after a campaign event at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, Biden asked his advisers to develop remarks he could make if he decided to speak, according to two sources familiar with the planning, and the president then redrafted the draft.
The New York Police Department’s decision on Tuesday night to clear Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall and arrest nearly 100 people, as well as violence between different groups of protesters, were part of the calculation to demonstrate, the police added. source.
But it wasn’t until Thursday morning — just hours after police officers arrested hundreds of protesters while clearing the encampment at UCLA — that he decided he wanted to make the comments.
Biden’s comments, which lasted about four minutes, came after several of his Democratic allies urged him to do so and after former President Donald Trump stepped up his criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the turmoil.
A White House official, referring to outside pressure, described the president’s decision to speak Thursday as: “We responded to the mail.” Biden’s team is focusing heavily on a speech he will give next week at a Holocaust memorial ceremony on anti-Semitism, the official said.
“In moments like this, there are always those who rush to score political points,” Biden said Thursday. “But this is not a time for politics. It’s a moment of clarity.”
On whether Trump’s comments prompted Biden’s statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters: “It has nothing to do with someone following someone’s lead. The president has actually been a leader in this.”
For most of last week, the president allowed his top aides and surrogates, like the second gentleman, to take the lead in messaging about the growing protests. The White House has released several statements condemning any violent or anti-Semitic rhetoric, clearly stating that “forcibly” taking over any type of building is “wrong.”
Biden’s comments Thursday were his first formal statement about tensions at about 40 schools across the country. So far, there have been more than 2,100 arrests linked to the protests, according to an NBC News tally.
Some Democrats are watching what is happening on campuses and note that the Democratic National Convention in Chicago is just a few months away and could be a place for some of the energy and anger from these protests to continue to manifest itself this summer.
Asked on Thursday whether the demonstrations forced him to reconsider any US policy in the Middle East, the president said simply: No.
Some Democrats are watching what is happening on college campuses right now and noting that the Democratic National Convention in Chicago is just a few months away, which could be a natural place for some of the energy and anger from these protests to continue to manifest. up this summer.
Asked whether the demonstrations forced him to reconsider any US policy in the Middle East, the president said simply: No.
For months, his national security team has been seeking a ceasefire agreement that would release up to 33 hostages still held by Hamas in exchange for a six-week pause in fighting. Negotiations reached a critical point this week, with the US and Israel awaiting a response from Hamas on the latest proposal under consideration. One potential benefit of reaching a deal, according to Biden advisers, could be to quell some of the political backlash that has erupted on college campuses.
Some family members of hostages, however, express concern that the campus protests could harm the prospect of a deal between Israel and Hamas. Several of them told NBC News that the protests are overshadowing the plight of the hostages and their families and could affect Hamas’ decision on whether to agree to the deal currently under consideration, given that the terrorist group thrives on chaos and unrest in the US.
“It certainly doesn’t help,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen said of the campus protests. His son, Sagui Dekel-Chen, is one of the Israeli-American hostages still being held by Hamas after more than 200 days.
“We need a deal,” said Liz Hirsh Naftali, great-aunt of freed American hostage Abigail Mor Edan, four.
Even Iran is paying attention. Professor at the University of Tehran, Foad Izadi he said this week: “What we’re seeing on U.S. college campuses, these are our people.”
The National Security Council declined to comment.
Gillian Kaye, stepmother of Sagui Dekel-Chen, found herself relating to the Columbia protests in “an intensely personal way.” She herself participated in a nearly month-long occupation of Hamilton Hall to protest apartheid in South Africa in 1985, when she was a student activist at Barnard College.
“It was a life-changing experience for me as a young man to understand that through struggles like this you can move mountains and move institutions,” Kaye said. Columbia would later become the first major American university to fully divest from South Africa, and many other schools followed suit.
Kaye says she understands the motivation behind many of the young students voicing their opinions in this movement, but sometimes struggles with how they communicate their message.
“I wish there was more study and reflection on what’s really going on here and what justice is for Palestinians and Jews, and the work of coexistence and how we move in that direction,” she said. “At the same time, I understand being involved in a cause that seems absolutely black and white.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
