Free Republic

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said the ongoing pro-Palestinian college protests are “working against peace in the Middle East.” Fetterman has been outspoken about his support for Israel, saying recently that the pro-Palestinian encampments on college campuses were “pup tents” for militant group Hamas. Host Margaret Brennan asked Fetterman on CBS’s “Face the Nation” about the protests on Sunday, asking him whether he considers flying the Palestinian flag during the demonstrations to be antisemitic.

Protests roiling U.S. universities have ignited a fierce debate over where to set the limit between acceptable criticism of Israel and speech that encourages antisemitism and violence. In France, government authorities are stepping in to draw the line. Courts have ruled that public speech condoning the Oct. 7 attack or legitimizing Hamas as a resistance movement amounts to condoning terrorism—a crime under French law, punishable by up to seven years in prison. French prosecutors are investigating politicians on the far-left, union officials and hundreds of other people for allegedly condoning terrorism and inciting antisemitism since October.

Students participating in the Gaza Solidarity Encampments at universities across the country are being taught to become militants, according to nine manuals obtained by The Free Press. Many of the manuals, which are being shared via phone group chats with students across the country, encourage “militancy” and instruct protesters to break laws, seize buildings, vandalize them, and then use tactics to evade police detection and arrest. One guide, called “De-arrest Primer,” teaches protesters to physically resist arrest or, in some cases, assault police officers or throw projectiles at them to protect fellow “comrades” from arrest. “Each de-arrest,” the guide states,...

A University of North Carolina student who defended the US flag from anti-Israel protesters said he was willing to put his life on the line and said they would have had to take the flag “over my dead body.” Like many other US campuses, the quad of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was attacked by anti-Israel protesters who descended on a flag flying at half mast to commemorate four Charlotte officers who were killed in the line of duty. Stompel, who is a junior majoring in political science, recalled thinking, “I don’t understand how people can act...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that the protests on college campuses over Israel’s war against Hamas could be President Biden’s Vietnam War, making the comparison to the anti-war protests in the 1960s while also offering support for the president’s statement this week. “I am thinking back and other people are making this reference that this may be Biden’s Vietnam,” Sanders told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, who asked the senator what could happen to Biden and his reelection campaign. “[Former President] Lyndon Johnson in many respects was a very, very good president. Domestically he brought forth some major pieces of legislation. He...

Hamas Protesters at the University of Alabama find common ground with Patriot counter protesters as both sides chanting " Fu&k Joe Biden!

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Thursday on his show “Morning Joe” that viewers should change the channel if they were too stupid to realize that the protests on college campuses are hurting President Joe Biden’s chances of winning in November. Discussing the Vietnam War protests, Scarborough said, “I was young and remember my parents asking, what in the world is going on in this country? And, of course, you know, they were raised in the Great Depression and rural Georgia. It was kind of hard for them to hear rich kids on the campus of Harvard are taking over or...

Many of the anti-Israel protesters at Columbia and other college campuses are dwelling in cushy tents on the quad. These tents look pretty modern and uniform; one could only wonder who is paying for all this? In 1754, an advertisement for Columbia (then known as King’s College), promised, “The chief thing that is aimed at in this college is to teach and engage children to know God in Jesus Christ.” How far Columbia et al have strayed from the Christian faith that gave them birth.

Democrats are seemingly divided on how to respond to the anti-Israel protests and encampments that have sprouted up throughout the nation, especially in the wake of the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) raid of Columbia University Tuesday night. While some Democrat politicians, like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), have expressed thankfulness that Columbia University “chose to have the police come in and take charge,” others, like Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), slammed the police response over students “simply exercising their first amendment rights.” “The protesters at Columbia demonstrated that there are two factions of the protesters — there’s the pro-Hamas, and then...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass vowed Wednesday to prosecute pro-Israel vigilantes who attacked the illegal “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) overnight. In a statement, Bass said she wanted those involved in the violence held responsible, noting actions reportedly taken by both the vigilantes and the pro-Palestinian activists — though only the vigilantes were said to use fireworks.

MADISON, Wis. -- Law enforcement from multiple agencies took down tents at the protest site on the campus of the University of Wisconsin Wednesday morning. Officers began clearing the space just before 7 a.m., after issuing warnings to protesters assembled. As the tents were being removed, the actions of some officers and protesters became physical. 12:00 p.m. SUMMARY In an update, UWPD spokesperson Marc Lovicott said 34 people were arrested at the protest Tuesday morning. Most were released without a citation, however, four were taken to the Dane County Jail. One person faces charges of attempted disarming of a police...

America’s academic leaders seem powerless only because they’ve spent decades promoting the ideologies now on such brutal and ugly display.The scenes unfolding at America’s most prestigious colleges are horrific. Antisemitic mobs preaching genocide — at times crossing the line into actual violence — have rendered campuses unsafe for Jews. Faculty members cheer them on, advocating for full-on pogroms.Top administrators flounder. Columbia had protesters arrested and suspended, then stood dumbfounded as a larger, more belligerent wave took their place. Unable to guarantee the physical safety of its students, the school moved all classes online. Copycat mobs on campuses across America formed...

Columbia University finally called in the cops to deal with its antisemitic protestors occupying a university building after a burglary-style break-in, and stinking up the campus lawn with an illegal campout.And what a bunch of screaming, squealing, bawling, toddlers they had on their hands to arrest and haul off:#BREAKING MASS ARRESTS as NYPD pour hundreds of cops inside Columbia University, Raiding Encampment Video by Olga Fe Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/YnS6v4V00p — Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) May 1, 2024 Look at them taking dives and pretending to be ‘injured’ for resisting arrest. Hear the squalling and screeching. Look at the stamping...

The Democrat mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, didn’t send police onto the campus of UCLA when pro-Hamas demonstrators took over parts of it and prevented Jews from entering, just as Nazis once blocked Jewish students from the University of Vienna. A Jewish girl being beaten unconscious and hospitalized also drew no police response to the state government-owned campus. But when non-student members of the Jewish community of Los Angeles entered the campus and began physically confronting the pro-Hamas demonstrators and videos of fights went out on internet, after two-plus hours [update: 3+ hours] of mayhem, the Mayor decided to...

Watch what Reagan had to say about "Mostly Peaceful" Protesters (As heard on Tuesday’s Mark Levin Show.)

Several hundred NYPD cops stormed onto Columbia University’s campus on Tuesday night to oust a pro-terror mob that illegally took over an academic building amid ongoing anti-Israel protests on campus... Shortly before entering the Morningside Heights campus at 9:13 p.m., about 100 cops from the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit packed into buses and headed to Columbia in preparation for the university’s call for help, sources told The Post. ... Twenty minutes later, Columbia University issued a shelter-in-place for students over “heightened activity” at the Morningside campus — and warned that those who do not abide will be hit with “disciplinary...

Pro-Palestinian students, Antifa, and Communists at Columbia University escalated campus protests by occupying Hamilton Hall, breaking windows, and barricading doors after the university began suspending students who refused to leave a pro-Palestinian encampment. At least 52 colleges and universities are overrun at a time when law enforcement is being neutered by the hard left. Lisa Fithian is organizing at Columbia University. In numerous videos, she is seen leading the rampage into Hamilton Hall. SNIP

Iranian “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is lauding the pro-Palestinian protests across U.S. college campuses, particularly praising the chants “against Israel and America,” while depicting the radical demonstrations sweeping the country as a form of victory for the Islamic regime over the “ruined” Western democracies. The 85-year-old ayatollah posted a clip Sunday showing various scenes of anti-Israel protesters rocking college campuses, some being engaged by police. “See what is happening in the world,” he wrote. “In Western countries, in England and France, and in states across the US itself, people are coming out in huge numbers to chant slogans against...

No, I don’t believe for a split second that suddenly, college students all over America really care about the plight of the Palestinians. I don’t believe this anymore than, a few years ago, people around the globe were suddenly concerned about the plight of Black Americans when they marched for BLM. Not a chance. Instead, this is just the latest manifestation of raging against the machine, of standing up to “the man.”

At places we used to call institutions of higher learning, ignorant kids who don’t know any better and their ignorant professors who should, but also don’t, are trespassing in support of the raping, beheading, kidnapping, burning alive hostage takers of Hamas. It’s a revolting scene. Even in Nazi Germany they tried to hide their atrocities. In contrast, Hamas posts them on the internet, and their sympathizers at American universities embrace both the terrorists and their terror like the latest hula hoop fad. (Watch out, trannies, you’re so-o-o-o 2023. And watch out, BLM, you’re so-o-o-o 2021.) Much as these terror-sympathizers disgust...