Biden Politicly Forced To Speak Out on Protests

President Joe Biden just held a press conference to finally address the college protests that have overtaken campuses across America (e.g., Columbia University, UCLA, NYU, etc.). Did the Biden Administration wait too long (and only after the police started arresting protesters) to condemn the antisemitic and anti-American rhetoric?

The AP reports on Biden’s press conference:

President Joe Biden on Thursday defended the right to protest but insisted that “order must prevail” as college campuses across the country face unrest over the war in Gaza.

“Dissent is essential for democracy,” he said at the White House. “But dissent must never lead to disorder.” . . .

Biden said he did not support calls to send in the National Guard. He also said that the protests have not prompted him to reconsider his approach to the war. The Democratic president has occasionally criticized Israel’s conduct but continued to supply it with weapons.

The Biden Administration had ignored this campus chaos for nine days – until finally being politically forced to respond. Biden rightly emphasized that “violent protest is not protected – peaceful protest is.”

Unfortunately, he later wrongly identified the cause of the campus chaos: “There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans.”

Are you kidding me? Extreme far-Left radicals who are wreaking havoc. NYC Mayor Eric Adams claims that a high number of the protesters are not even students – they are outside agitators.

ACLJ Senior Counsel and Director of Policy Harry Hutchison responded to Biden’s false equivalence of comparing the threats of antisemitism and Islamophobia in America:

[President Biden] issued a statement arguing that the United States should protect our rights of freedom of speech. But in many instances, if you look at the speech carefully, he is arguing for a moral equivalence between what is happening to Jewish Americans and Jewish students and then comparing that to what is happening to Muslim and Arab students, which is clearly a false equivalence that most people can see through. And I think we should reject it.

The Biden Administration is worried about losing the radical faction of their base – that’s why the President felt compelled to lump Jewish students in with Muslim students.

Yet these pro-Hamas rioters on college campuses hate Jews, hate Israel, and have chosen the violent events of October 7 as the jumping-off point to go to the streets. They are celebrating Hamas’ carnage against innocent women and children. Nothing even remotely similar is happening to Muslim students on college campuses in America.

The ACLJ fights daily for the free speech of all Americans. It’s a fundamental constitutional right that must be preserved. However, when you are spewing death threats and committing violence against Jewish students and supporters of Israel, a clear line has been crossed. When hundreds are being arrested, you don’t have a peaceful protest that’s protected by the Constitution.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of President Biden’s politically motivated press conference about the pro-Hamas protesters.

Watch the full broadcast below: