Biden Weighs in On Columbia Protests When Questioned By Reporter
President Joe Biden meets Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, March 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Joe Biden delivered a speech for Earth Day in Virginia on Monday and briefly addressed the pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses grabbing headlines.
Biden was joined by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Ed Markey (D-MA) to promote green energy grants, including some $7 billion in grants for new solar projects. After the speech a reporter yelled, “What’s your message to the protestors?”
Another reporter shouted, “Do you condemn the antisemitic protests on college campuses?”
“I condemn the antisemitic protests that’s why I set up a program to deal with that,” Biden replied.
“I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” he added.
Biden spoke at the Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia and was also joined by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) who mentioned the protests in her remarks. “It is especially important that we remember the power of young people shaping this country today, of all days, as we once again witness the leadership of those peaceful, student-led protests on campuses like Columbia, Yale, Berkeley, and many others.”
Earlier in the morning, police arrested dozens of protestors at Yale. “Approximately 45 people refused to leave and were charged by Yale officers with Criminal Trespass in the 1st Degree, a misdemeanor,” New Haven police said in a statement. “They were transported to a Yale Police facility where they were processed and released.”
CNN also reported that on Monday, “About 75 miles away in New York, Columbia University officials announced all classes would be virtual on Monday ahead of Passover, a major Jewish holiday set to begin Monday evening.”
“Columbia has been the site of multiple protests denouncing Israel’s handling of its war in Gaza. And pro-Palestinian students at Boston’s Emerson College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have set up encampments in solidarity with protesters at Columbia University, according to The Boston Globe,” added CNN on the scope of the protests that have involved the harassment of Jewish students and the usage of rhetoric that critics have deemed both antisemitic and explicitly pro-Hamas.
