House Democrat Calls For Biden To Visit Pro-Palestine College Protests After Denouncing Demonstrators
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) called on President Joe Biden to visit pro-Palestine college protests after denouncing the nationwide demonstrations as “anti-Semitic.”
Last month, the White House issued a statement slamming the protesters for “anti-Semitic” and hateful rhetoric at Columbia University due to pro-Hamas chants. Student protesters and local activists at college campuses across the nation are demanding the Biden administration stop providing military and financial aid to Israel.
However, earlier this week, Biden did issue a statement denouncing Islamophobia, referencing the pro-Israel counter protesters before adding there “is no place hate speech or violence.”
During an interview on Face the Nation, anchor Margaret Brennan asked Khanna if the protests have become a distraction and whether Biden would visit the college campuses despite condemning them in the past.
BRENNAN: Are we at the point now where the protesters are becoming a story unto themselves and a distraction from the issues that they’re protesting?
KHANNA: No, I don’t think so. And in Wisconsin, the issues that came up first were abortion rights. Second, the cost of living and what the president was going to do on student loans and for housing and rent. And Gaza came up. But, you know, one of the conversations in Madison with Jewish Americans and Arab Americans was extraordinarily civil, thoughtful and constructive. So I think in a lot of campaigns that there are 4000 of them in the United States, there is actually constructive dialog taking place.
BRENNAN: But the president isn’t doing those kind of listening sessions. Why?
KHANNA: I think the president should and will get out there on campuses, I think-
BRENNAN: He gets shouted down genocide Joe when he goes to events.
KHANNA: And look, that’s part of protest. I condemn any protest that incites violence or that is anti-Semitic. As someone who’s grandfather spent four years in jail with Gandhi, I mean, the whole point of satyagraha was nonviolent protests. But we have to understand that this is a defining moment for this generation, similar to anti-Vietnam protest, anti-apartheid protest, anti, Iraq war protests. And they’re telling us that there over 30,000 people have died. It’s time for this war to end. It’s time for the hostages to be released that Hamas has. And they want to see leadership, in America and around the world. This is not the world that they want.
Watch the clip above via CBS News.
