Democrat President Joe Biden has provoked outrage by complaining about so-called “Islamophobia” as violent anti-Semitic protests continue to spread across America’s college campuses.
Biden broke his silence and condemned violent protests shaking college campuses across the U.S. amid the worst anti-Semitism outbreak in decades.
However, during the statement, he added that Islamophobia has no place in America.
“There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students,” Biden said.
“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.
“It’s simply wrong. There’s no place for racism in America.
“It’s all wrong. It’s un-American.”
The president failed to clarify what cases of Islamophobia he was referring to, however.
According to Fox News, law enforcement sources confirmed that there has not been a spike in Islamophobia across the U.S.
Biden’s summoning of Islamophobia during his speech has led to many observers scratching their heads, including Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz.
“Why can’t President Biden simply denounce antisemitism without pandering to Muslims and Arabs,” Dershowitz posted on X.
The legal scholar later said the crisis at hand was about anti-Semitism, discrimination, and violence against Jews, not other groups.
“Why won’t he just condemn Jew hatred?” he asked.
Mobs of anti-Israel agitators have invaded college campuses and set up encampments, demanding the schools completely divest from supporting war efforts in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Jewish students reported feeling threatened at New York City’s Columbia University.
One Jewish student was even blocked from entering UCLA’s campus.
On Tuesday morning, anti-Israel agitators at Columbia continued to call for the “intifada revolution.”
As a mob invaded and occupied an academic hall, activists were chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
That chant calls for the eradication of Israel and the Jewish people.
It was not until the next night that university officials permitted the New York Police Department to enter university grounds and remove the agitators.
Agitators at the University of Chicago have also called to “globalize the Intifada.”
Hugh Hewitt, host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” called Biden out in a social media post.
He noted that Biden took two minutes and forty seconds to get to the hatred displayed against Jews before mixing in Islamophobia.
“It is a teleprompter, of course, but his writers are spent,” he said, referring to Biden’s faceless, unelected White House handlers.
“They don’t have the ability to compose, nor he to deliver, a forceful speech.”
Hewitt added Islamophobia “is real and a cause for concern” as is hate speech of all sorts.
He also addressed anti-Semitism on college campuses.
“Jew hatred is the ancient evil, and it’s on dozens of campuses right now,” Hewitt said.
“That should be the president’s exclusive focus today, tomorrow, and for as long as antisemitism is sweeping the country and would be if he wasn’t concerned with his re-election.”
Shortly after Biden made the remarks, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) called the president “impotent” on social media.
“President Biden still won’t forcefully condemn the Hamas mobs on campuses.
“He’s terrified of them,” the senator said.
“A complete lack of leadership from an impotent president.”
Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) also issued a statement on Biden’s remarks.
“To have any chance of winning Michigan in November, Joe Biden has made the political calculation that he needs to equivocate on Israel, equivocate on defending American Jews, and equivocate on protecting Jewish students at universities,” Zeldin said.
“Hamas sympathizers have taken over college campuses across this country calling for the death of Jews.
“Weak leadership is the play call at the White House, demonstrating an incredible lack of moral clarity and courage.
“This is a time to singularly, emphatically, and powerfully condemn antisemitism.”
The White House defended Biden’s comments by citing instances in the news where Muslims were attacked.
“In Chicago, a 6-year-old child was brutally killed and his mother stabbed. Three college students of Palestinian descent, two of whom are American citizens, were shot in Vermont – paralyzing one,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said.
“The FBI has sounded the alarm about rising crime and threats against Muslims, Arab Americans, and Palestinian Americans in recent months.
“Appalling language, threats, and violence have targeted the Muslim community.
“President Biden cares about the rights, dignity, and safety of all Americans,” Bates added.
However, Bates didn’t provide any comparisons against attacks on non-Muslim Americans, or any evidence to show a rise in attacks against Muslims.
But others would not hold back, including Rich Goldberg, senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a nonprofit, non-partisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.
“What people need to understand is that the Biden administration itself is like one of these college campuses.
“You have a protest movement inside the government with leaks, anonymous letters, [protesters] outside the White House wearing masks, resignations, threats of resignation, shouting, staffers at town hall meetings, and more,” Goldberg said.
“And Biden is sort of like that weak college president who is afraid of the Hamasniks on his campus.
“So, when he condemns antisemitism, he makes sure to balance it out, so his own Hamas encampment doesn’t get agitated.”
When Biden condemned the violence at school campuses on Thursday, he said “order must prevail.”
“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” Biden said.
“The American people are heard. In fact, peaceful protest is the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues.
“But neither are we a lawless country.
“We’re a civil society and order must prevail.”
The comments come as Biden has been facing mounting media and political pressure to speak out against the violence.
“Throughout our history, we’ve often faced moments like this because we are a big, diverse, free-thinking and freedom-loving nation,” Biden also said.
“And moments like this there are always those who rush in to score political points.
“But this isn’t a moment for politics. It’s a moment for clarity.”
“So let me be clear … violent protest is not protected.
“Peaceful protest is. It’s against the law when violence occurs.
“Destroying property is not a peaceful protest.
“It’s against the law. Vandalism. Trespassing.
“Breaking windows. Shutting down campuses.
“Forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations.
“None of this is a peaceful protest,” Biden continued.
“Threatening people. Intimidating people.
“Instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law.”
The protests have continued despite the president condemning the actions of anti-Israel agitators against Jews.
Former FBI Special Agent and Fox News contributor Nicole Parker said FBI leadership in June 2021 stated hate crimes were “the highest priority of the FBI’s civil rights program,” mainly due to the devastation they cause to communities and individuals.
The FBI also made it the highest priority because there is no tolerance for hate in the U.S.
“The FBI vowed to use their full resources to reduce the hate crime threats and protect all Americans,” Parker said.
“Based on what I have observed on college campuses nationwide in the past couple of weeks, I believe this vow to protect is more relevant now than ever as individuals live in fear for their lives and are unable to go about living freely and peacefully because of their religion or country of origin.
“This cannot be tolerated.”
She also spoke about how free speech is embraced in the U.S., but terroristic threats, destruction, and violence are not.
They are instead serious crimes.
“I hope the deafening silence from AG Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray in the face of what appears to be rampant violations of federal civil rights and hate crimes across college campuses nationwide in the last couple of weeks is not an indication of a lack of resources and effort being spent to address the threats,” Parker said.
“Americans have observed the federal criminal justice system in the last few years. …
“Typically, they make it very clear to the public when they are interested in addressing the matter.”
