White House calls anti-Israel college protests ‘definition of unacceptable’
WASHINGTON — White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby decried anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protests on college campuses as “the definition of unacceptable” Friday after shocking incidents in New York and Washington DC this week.
“Over the past week we’ve seen protests and statements that call for the annihilation of the state of Israel and call for genocide of the Jewish people,” Kirby said on a press call.
“We’ve seen Jewish students targeted. We’ve seen them intimidated on their own college campuses. It’s repugnant and it’s the absolute opposite of what we’re supposed to represent as a nation.”
Kirby added: “Delegitimizing the state of Israel, praising Hamas murderers who slaughtered people, targeting Jewish students, that’s, quite frankly, the definition of unacceptable and of antisemitism, quite frankly.”
How celebrities, schools, and businesses have reacted to Hamas’ terror attack against Israel
It was the White House’s highest-profile denunciation of anti-Jewish hatred on college campuses after Hamas murdered more than 1,400 people and kidnapped about 200 others in an Oct. 7 surprise attack on southern Israel.
On Tuesday night, student activists projected the words “Glory to our martyrs” and “Free Palestine From the River to the Sea” onto George Washington University’s Gelman Library five blocks west of the White House.
The library is named for a Jewish couple.
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Follow along with The Post’s coverage of Israel’s war with Hamas
On Wednesday, Jewish students at Cooper Union in Manhattan were shown in widely circulated footage taking cover in the library as protesters holding “Zionism Hands Off Our Universities” signs banged on the doors. About 50 students, of whom at least 11 were Jewish, were inside.
The protesters had planned to march to the office of the school president in the same building before turning their focus on the library.
Violence has erupted at some demonstrations, including on Thursday at Tulane University in New Orleans.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a Thursday statement to the Times of Israel that “there is an extremely disturbing pattern of antisemitic messages being conveyed on college campuses” — as administration spokespeople moved away from earlier statements expressing support for free speech when asked about pro-Palestinian rallies as Israel’s military bombed Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Kirby also said on the Friday press call that there was also “no place for Islamophobia” — and claimed that “conservative media” had launched a “smear campaign” that featured “bigoted and unfounded accusations” against “Muslim-American, Arab-American [and] Palestinian-American” staffers who are “members of this administration.”
The White House would not provide The Post with examples of attacks on Biden administration aides and it’s unclear what precisely Kirby was referencing — though recent reports, including in non-conservative outlets Politico and The Huffington Post, noted some Muslims felt they were treated unfairly by fellow Biden staffers.
Politico reported that “some Muslim, Arab and Palestinian Americans who work in the Biden administration” felt that “their grief” over civilian casualties in Gaza was taken less seriously than as was the grief of Jewish aides over the Hamas surprise attack.
The Huffington Post reported that Biden’s Muslim aides “worry about retaliation at work for questioning Israel’s conduct.”
Kirby denounced anti-Israel protests as organizers prepare a “National March on Washington for Palestine” Nov. 4 to oppose US support for Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip to remove Hamas from power.
Israel-Hamas war: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip over three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.
2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years, in an early-morning ambush Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of militants into Israeli towns.
Terrorists killed more than 1,400 Israelis, wounded more than 4,200, and took at least 200 hostage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce “We are at war,” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
Gaza health officials — which are controlled by Hamas — report at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 injured since the war began.
Earlier this week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was forced to pointedly disavow antisemitism after going viral Monday when she mistakenly launched into a denunciation of anti-Muslim sentiment in response to a question about bias against Jews.
Biden has requested $14.3 billion in US military aid for Israel after pledging $100 million in humanitarian aid to Palestinians during a trip to Tel Aviv last week, where he referred to himself as a Zionist.
Biden faces a left-wing challenge in next year’s election from theologian and college professor Cornel West, who on Thursday joined a protest at UCLA, tweeting images of himself there and writing, “It’s important to realize that love for the Palestinian people does not imply hatred for Jewish people – only a hatred of Israeli domination and occupation!”
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