After visiting Columbia University on Wednesday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson denounced the ongoing campus protests on Fox News, saying activists are “intimidating and intimidating” Jewish students.
Johnson appeared on “Jesse Watters Prime Time” to discuss his visit to the City University of New York campus on Wednesday, as pro-Palestinian protesters have been demonstrating at the school since April 17. Told. As tensions between university officials and pro-Palestinian protesters rise, Fox host Jesse Watters questions Johnson’s backlash from activists during a speech at the school. presented. (Related article: “Mike, you suck!”: Mike Johnson hits back at rowdy pro-Palestinian protesters during university speech)
“Today we did our job and spoke out,” Johnson said. “There was chaos on campus. We were staring into a sea of angry student faces, many of whom didn’t even know what the hell they were saying. They were Hamas They don’t know what they did, they deny the facts of October 7th, and some of them deny 9/11. In other words, they wave the Palestinian Hamas flag, equate it with terrorists, and deny our country. They are operating outside the territory while saying “Death to America.” The American people are not putting up with this, and neither is Congress. ”
Watters went on to ask the Speaker if he thought this was the beginning of something bigger, or if people were just “getting out of control.”
“If we don’t bring order to this chaos, it could get much worse,” Johnson said. “So, obviously. According to some estimates, a few days ago a Fox News reporter [saying] There are probably 200 campuses doing some form of this.Columbia [University] It stands out because it is one of the great institutions. There is a respected history there and they are trampling on it. ”
“This is not an expression of free speech, and this is not a free exchange of ideas in a public forum,” he continued. “This is blackmailing and intimidating Jewish students because of who they are.” [and] what they believe. Before going to campus, I met a large group of Jewish students who were hiding out of fear. They do not attend classes for fear of being assaulted. It’s unfair to them. Some of them even had to file federal lawsuits alleging civil rights violations taking place there. ”
“Taxpayer money should not be spent on institutions that engage in nonsense like this. If you are an administrator on a college campus, your biggest and most obvious job is the safety and security of your students. If we can’t guarantee that, we need to find someone who can,” Johnson added.
Protests have erupted at schools across the country, including the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of Texas at Austin, since Columbia University began holding protests in support of Palestine last week. With no end in sight to the protests at Columbia University, the university’s president, Nemat “Minoush” Shafik, said Tuesday that he was “sad” by the decision but that the school needed to “reset” and that the school would not be able to continue for the rest of the semester. He ordered classes to be moved to online programs.
Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised the protests across Ivy League campuses in her Earth Day speech Monday, while many condemned activists on campus. Democratic Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar said: saw He told pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Minnesota on Tuesday that he was “touched” by the “courage and bravery” of activists on campus.
