The White House is mostly staying out of the debate over the pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses that have been criticized as antisemitic, despite calls for action from both sides.
“It is up to their leadership, university leadership, and colleges, to make that decision,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during Monday’s news briefing. “I’m not going to weigh in on that from here.”
Protesters have created encampments while calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, most notably at Columbia University in New York City, but also at other campuses across the country, sparking a national debate over how they should be handled.
Republicans have called for President Joe Biden to send in the National Guard to restore order at the schools, while some on the Left have objected to police arrests of protesters at schools such as the University of Texas at Austin.
Jean-Pierre called for protests to remain peaceful and decried antisemitic rhetoric, but did not offer much in the way of detail.
“We are going to continue to say all Americans have the right to peacefully protest,” she said. “At the same time, we have to call out any hateful rhetoric that we hear. Antisemitism is wrong. So we are going to do that. But universities and colleges make their own decisions.”
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White House officials have been calling for a ceasefire for weeks but say it is contingent on Hamas giving up hostages it took during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged Hamas to accept the latest ceasefire proposal, which he described as “extraordinarily generous.”
