President Biden used the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the framing of former President Trump’s response, as the impetus for his 2020 White House bid, but Biden is now facing his own “Charlottesville moment.” ing.
Biden has repeatedly condemned the 2017 riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, as an outpouring of “anti-Semitic bile” and said in the last election cycle that protests inspired his bid for the White House. even said.
“At that moment, I knew the threat to this country was unlike anything I had ever seen in my lifetime,” Biden said of the riots in 2019, when he announced his bid for the White House against then-President Donald Trump. he said.
Fast forward to 2024, and anti-Semitism is rampant on the campuses of some of the country’s elite universities, including one where Jewish students are on the campus of Columbia University as Hamas’s “next target” as protests continue. This includes protesters who said that
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President Biden speaks at the National Action Network Conference remotely from Southcourt Auditorium at the White House on April 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“Al-Qassam, you are our pride. Kill another soldier now,” protesters at the Ivy League campus chanted over the weekend, referring to the military wing of the terrorist group Hamas.
They also shouted, “We say justice, you say method. Burn down Tel Aviv” and “Hamas loves you. We support your rockets too.”
The 2017 Charlottesville protests lasted for two days in August, when white supremacists descended on Charlottesville and were met by hundreds of counter-protesters. The protests turned violent, with three people killed and dozens injured in car crashes and other attacks.
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The protests were condemned by both Republicans and Democrats as a display of bigotry and hatred, with President Trump saying in a statement at the time that such protests and violence “have no place in America.”
Anti-Israel agitators set up an encampment on the Columbia University campus on Monday, April 22, 2024, in New York City. (Peter Garber, Fox News Digital)
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on all sides,” President Trump said in August of the same year. In a press conference days later, President Trump condemned the “terrible display of hatred, bigotry and violence” and was criticized by Democrats for saying “both sides are to blame” and “very fine people on both sides.” He added that he was exposed to . ”
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Former President Trump attended a rally in Arizona. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Mr. Biden said Mr. Trump’s comments helped promote his candidacy for president.
“With these words, the president of the United States creates moral equivalence between those who spread hate and those who have the courage to stand against it,” Biden said when announcing his candidacy in 2019.
Anti-Israel demonstrators demonstrate in front of the Columbia University campus on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in New York City. (Peter Garber, Fox News Digital)
Biden has repeatedly referred to Charlottesville as a moment of national shame, saying the White House said the rally was “a battle for the soul of America, for all to see.” ” This includes the 4th anniversary of the release of the statement.
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“When neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and white supremacists descended on historic American cities, a force of hatred and violence was summoned from the shadows. They carried torches in their hands, veins bulging from their necks, and “In Germany in the 1930s, there was the same violence and bigotry that we saw in Jim Crow America for almost a century.” Biden has repeatedly mentioned Charlottesville, but he has also come under fire recently. like 5 months agofor not visiting the city after the protests.
“Charlottesville, Virginia”,” were even the first two words Biden uttered when he announced his candidacy for the White House.
Members of the Patriot Front march across the Memorial Bridge in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on December 4, 2021. The group marched across the Memorial Bridge in front of the Lincoln Memorial on December 4, 2021, in Washington, DC. In 2017, he left the supremacist organization Vanguard America. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
As protests intensify on college campuses ranging from Yale University to the University of California, Berkeley, with anti-Israel students setting up camps and demanding a complete withdrawal of schools from Israel, Mr. We are facing a “Charlottesville moment”.
When Hamas launched its first attack against Israel last October and war broke out, protests spread across the country. They have intensified since then, including this month.
Protests at Columbia University and other schools have intensified since October. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
A Columbia University professor told Fox Digital over the weekend that an anti-Israel campus group is morphing into an “actual terrorist organization” and a placard reading “Al-Qassam’s (sic) next target.” Jewish students, citing protesters who were seen holding . The rabbi on Columbia University’s campus has warned Jewish students to leave campus due to anti-Semitism.
“The past few days, and especially last night’s events, have made it clear that Columbia University Public Safety and the New York City Police Department are unable to guarantee the safety of Jewish students in the face of extreme anti-Semitism and disorder,” Rabbi Elie said. Buechler said in a letter to students over the weekend. . “Unfortunately, we strongly advise you to return home as soon as possible and remain at home until the situation on and around campus improves dramatically.”
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More than 100 protesters were arrested on Columbia University’s campus last week, and dozens more were arrested this week on the campuses of Yale University and New York University.
Biden reiterated his condemnation of violent protests on Monday, but faced criticism online that his comments echoed those made by President Trump regarding the 2017 Charlottesville riots.
“I condemn the anti-Semitic protests. That’s why I launched a program to address it. Understand what’s happening to the Palestinian people,” Biden told reporters Monday. I also criticize those who have not done so.”
Clashes at a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017. (Evelyn Hochstein/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“This certainly sounds like he’s saying there are actually very good people on both sides,” said OutKick founder Clay Travis.
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“Joe Biden condemned what he called the ‘anti-Semitic bile’ of right-wing marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia, and called it a ‘defining moment’ for America. Today, we… is happening on Columbia University’s campus in Charlottesville, and Biden is silent.” This is a defining moment for this presidency as he continues to pander to the anti-Semitic left. Or will we confront them in the same way as the anti-Semitic right?” Fox News Contributor Marc Thiessen tweeted.
On Monday, April 22, 2024, anti-Israel agitators block the road outside Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Protests continue after a week of demonstrations calling for the university to withdraw from its role as a military weapons manufacturer. (Michael Lewis/Fox News Digital)
American Spectator writer Nate Hochman said, “I’m old enough to remember a time when ‘good people on both sides’ were evil and racist.”
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“President Biden says there are good people on both sides of October 7th,” wrote Molly Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist.
Earlier this month, Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who has openly supported Israel and criticized members of his own party who don’t do the same, compared the protests unfolding on college campuses to Charlottesville.
Anti-Israel demonstrators on the Columbia University campus on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in New York City. (Peter Garber, Fox News Digital)
As protests in Colombia intensified over the weekend, Fetterman said, “I completely agree with the White House. These ‘protests’ are anti-Semitic, unconscionable and dangerous. Add the tiki torches.” It’s Charlottesville for Jewish students,” he tweeted.
Israel has been a lightning rod for Democrats since October, with the party’s progressive wing, including members of the Squad, facing intense criticism from the Jewish community and conservatives for not taking a tougher stance against Hamas. Biden is also facing an “abandon Biden” movement in battleground states such as Michigan and Wisconsin that stemmed from the president’s election. Israeli support During the war in Gaza. The movement calls Israel’s actions “genocide.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign and the White House for comment on this story on Tuesday, but neither responded.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
