NEW YORK (AP) – Student protests over the Gaza war are a new forecast for President Joe Biden, who resists calls to cut U.S. aid to Israel while trying to rally the coalition of voters he needs for re-election. creating impossible challenges. .
Protests at New York’s Columbia University and other campuses have drawn global media attention and resurfaced questions about Biden’s lagging support among young voters. His handling of the Middle East conflict has also drawn attention from Jewish and Arab American voters in key battleground states.
At best, the protests will be a temporary distraction for Biden, as the White House presses ahead with negotiations on a cease-fire and the release of Hamas hostages, while confronting Israel with more than 34,000 Palestinian deaths and casualties. asking for restrictions. In the worst-case scenario, the momentum builds up in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, potentially sparking scenes of violence reminiscent of the unrest during the Vietnam War protests during the 1968 convention in Chicago. There is.
“If it ends up at Columbia, that’s a different matter,” says Angus Johnston, a historian who specializes in campus activities. “If this were to send a national student movement to a new location, it would be a completely different situation.”
Already, Biden’s aides have had to try to minimize disruption from anti-war protesters, holding small campaign events and tightly controlling access. To deliver the State of the Union, protesters forced his motorcade to reroute to the Capitol and threw a red substance symbolizing blood near his home in Delaware.
The president could face further conflict with students this spring. Morehouse College announced Tuesday that Biden will appear at the historically black campus in May to deliver a commencement address that could draw protests.
More than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters camping at Columbia University were arrested Thursday, with dozens more arrested on other campuses. Many people are currently facing charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct. Demonstrators are demanding that the university condemn Israel’s attack on Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and divest from companies doing business with Israel.
Some have reported anti-Semitic chants and messages on and around Columbia’s campus, and other universities have reported similar concerns. Some Jewish students say they feel unsafe on campus. In a message Sunday marking the Passover holiday, the White House condemned the “alarming spike” in anti-Semitism and said, “Anti-Semitism has no place on college campuses or anywhere in our country. ” he said.
On Monday, four Jewish Democratic congressmen toured Columbia University’s locked-down campus, along with members of the school’s Jewish Law Students Association. They accused the situation of escalating to the point where Jewish students felt unsafe and the university canceled in-person classes on Monday. Columbia University said it will use a hybrid of remote and in-person learning through the end of the spring semester.
North Carolina Rep. Kathy Manning called on the Departments of Education and Justice to work with the White House to “ensure all colleges and universities take the necessary steps to protect the safety of Jewish students and faculty.” I asked for it.
“This discrimination is completely unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue,” she said.
Biden on Monday supported Israel’s military operations with arms shipments, while pressuring Israel to limit civilian casualties and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, where the United Nations says famine is imminent. , seeking the same compromise they had been pushing for months. .
The president said at an Earth Day event that he “condemns the anti-Semitic protests.” Moreover, he added, “I also blame those who do not understand what is happening to the Palestinians.”
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent progressive who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, spoke before Biden at the same event. She said it was “important to remember the power of young people who are shaping this country” and praised the “leadership of the peaceful student-led protests.”
To what extent is Biden responsible?
Former President Donald Trump, expected to be Biden’s Republican nominee in November, said in court Tuesday that the headlines and images coming out of Colombia were distracting from the hush-money criminal trial in New York. He told reporters that Biden was responsible for the riot.
“If this were me, you’d be chasing me. You’d be chasing me so hard,” he said. “But they’re trying to give him a pass. But what’s happening now is a disgrace to our country and it’s all Biden’s fault and everyone knows it.”
In a sign of the political weight of the situation at Columbia University, Louisiana Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson was scheduled to visit the school on Wednesday and meet with Jewish students.
Democratic strategist Joel Rubin, a former State Department official and longtime veteran of Jewish politics, rejected critics who blamed Biden for “everything that went wrong,” but said the president “discusses why the policies are right.” I will have to do it,” he said. Then let the chips fall where they are likely to fall. ”
“If it was purely politics and polling, it would be very difficult,” Rubin said. “But I think Biden is making these decisions based on national security.”
Mr. Biden avoided campus unrest over the Vietnam War and graduated from Syracuse law school in 1968. He distanced himself from his protest movement when he ran for president for the first time 20 years later.
“I was married, I was in law school, and I wore a sport coat,” Biden said in 1987. “You’re looking at a middle-class guy. That’s me. I don’t like flak jackets and ties.” – Dyed shirts, that’s not me. ”
Biden has been endorsed by many major youth activist groups this year and has focused his campaign on major social issues, including defending abortion rights, combating climate change and canceling millions of students’ debt. We are running a campaign and believe these themes can energize voters under 30, who are more likely to: There are concerns about his approach to Gaza.
He traveled to Florida on Tuesday to capitalize on the momentum against abortion restrictions nationwide and criticize the state’s soon-to-be-enforced law banning abortions after six weeks, before many women realize they are pregnant. The day before, Vice President Kamala Harris held an event promoting abortion rights in the battleground state of Wisconsin.
Safia Southie, 25, a law student at Columbia University, is Jewish and has been participating in the protests since Thursday, sleeping in an encampment in the university’s quarters. She believes anger over the war will narrow Biden’s chances of victory over Trump, as fervent supporters of Israel are likely to support Biden, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Read more: Columbia University announces ‘significant progress’ in relations with Gaza protesters
“Biden has tried to be very strategic, but I think it’s backfired in many ways,” she said.
But Southey said she would vote for Biden “no matter what” against Trump.
“Students who are upset, especially at these types of universities, are smart enough not to stay home,” she says. “They’re going to vote, and even if they’re not happy with Biden, they’re going to choose the most strategic option. I think they’re going to do whatever it takes to keep Trump out of favor” at the company. “
Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher was skeptical that campus protests in Gaza would prove politically influential.
“What percentage of Americans are actually in that small space, and how representative are they of the broader American audience, and even the broader youth audience?” he asked. .
Johnston, a student movement historian, said the current protests do not match the scale or intensity of demonstrations in the 1960s, when school officials were taken hostage and campuses were destroyed.
But over the years, he says, “there have been many times that student protests have shaped the national conversation.”
Mr. Weissert and Mr. Megerian reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
