As protests over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza continue at various colleges and universities across the country, the White House says that President Joe Biden respects the right of demonstrators to make their voices heard — peacefully — and “we don’t want to see anybody hurt in the process” as some protests are met with police crackdowns.
“The president knows that there are very strong feelings about the war in Gaza. He understands that, he respects that, and as he has said many times, we certainly respect the right of peaceful protest. People should have the ability to air their views and to share their perspectives publicly, but it has to be peaceful,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told ABC News “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
Kirby did sound a warning, though, that some language heard in the mushrooming demonstrations crossed a line with the administration.
“We absolutely condemn the antisemitism language that we’ve heard of late, and we certainly condemn all the hate speech and the threats of violence out there. These protests, we understand they’re important, but they do need to be peaceful,” he said.
The protests, some of which have turned into encampments, have been met with various responses from school and local officials including, in some cases, controversial mass arrests.
“We’ll leave it to local authorities to determine how these protests are managed,” Kirby told Stephanopoulos, “but we want them to be peaceful protests and obviously we don’t want to see anybody hurt in the process of peacefully protesting.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.