President Joe Biden said this week that pro-Palestinian protesters had “failed” in their efforts to get him to reassess American policy toward the Middle East. The president’s comments came as students projected his image onto an American flag on campus, calling him ‘Genocide Joe.’
Biden was directly asked whether or not the protests caused him to “reconsider any of the policies with regard to the region.”
He simply answered “No.”
He was also asked if the National Guard should be used to break up the protests. The president replied “No” to that question as well.
“There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab-Americans or Palestinian-Americans. It’s simply wrong,” said Biden.
“Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations: none of this is a peaceful protest,” said the president. “Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law.”
Biden said that the protest effort was not working and would not cause his administration to change course.
Students at George Washington University Law School projected a large image of the president onto an American flag with the words ‘Genocide Joe’ underneath. The protesters argued that Biden has been too supportive of Israel.
The flag was placed on a large building on campus following student protesters defacing a statue of former President George Washington with a Palestinian flag and a scarf.
Washington statue: desecrated
American flag: Ripped down
Palestinian flag: RaisedGeorge Washington University in DC.
Your taxes paid off their student debt. pic.twitter.com/80u9dXFafG— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 3, 2024
While many of the protesters claim that Biden has been too supportive of Israel, some conservatives said that Biden did not show enough support for the country. This includes the Biden administration calling for Israel not to attack the last major Hamas stronghold of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
There has been a significant decline in support for Biden among Muslim Americans and young people, according to recent polls. This includes a significant number of ‘uncommitted’ votes in the Democratic Party presidential primary.
