US Muslim group condemns Biden comments
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) blasted President Joe Biden for failing to denounce Israel’s attack on Gaza while supporting a crackdown on student protests in the US.
“If President Biden is concerned about unrest on college campuses, he should start specifically condemning attacks on peaceful protesters and stop funding the genocide that has triggered student protests. Until then, he’s part of the problem,” CAIR’s National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.
Earlier, Biden said at the White House: “Dissent is essential for democracy, but dissent must never lead to disorder.”
The president also said the protests have not caused him to reconsider his approach to Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 people, mostly children and women. Biden has occasionally criticised Israel’s conduct, but continues to supply it with weapons.
Joe Biden raises a toast during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner
Bernie Sanders: Protesting students are ‘out there for the right reasons’
US Senator Bernie Sanders says President Joe Biden is right to condemn bigotry, but cautioned it’s important to understand why thousands of students are protesting at universities.
“They are out there not because they are ‘pro-Hamas’, they are out there because they are outraged by what the Israeli government is now doing in Gaza,” he said during an interview with US broadcaster CNN.
“They do not want to see a situation continue where 110,000 Palestinians, or about 5 percent of the population, have been killed or wounded.”
“They are out there for the right reasons… they are out there not because they are ‘pro-Hamas.' They are out there because they are outraged by what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza.”@SenSanders discusses the student anti-war protests sweeping colleges in America.… pic.twitter.com/bUThiWoqUt
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) May 2, 2024
‘Divest from Israel’ – Decoding the Gaza protest call shaking US campuses
The student-led protests being held across US campuses have multiple demands, but one common cause is demanding that schools stop doing business with Israel.
Many of the universities are in command of multibillion-dollar endowments, and students have demanded they withdraw their investments from companies that do business with Israel.
Protesters at the Ivy League Brown University are the first at an elite college to reach an agreement with their administration. They ended their encampment after the college agreed to hold a vote on whether to divest from firms supporting Israel.
Students erect pro-Palestine encampments across Canadian campuses
Students at the University of Toronto set up an encampment in a fenced-off grassy space at the school’s downtown campus where some 100 protesters gathered with dozens of tents.
According to a statement from organisers, the encampment will stay until the university discloses its investments, divests from any that “sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine”, and ends partnerships with some Israeli academic institutions.
“If public disruption is the only way to get our voice heard, then we are willing to do that,” said University of Toronto graduate student and encampment spokesperson, Sara Rasikh.
Students also set up encampments at McGill University in Montreal, the University of British Columbia and the University of Ottawa.
Protesters in support of Palestinians at an encampment at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec
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