Protests for Palestine are spreading. Texas wants to shut down attendees, House Speaker calls for National Guard

Tensions between pro-Palestinian students and politicians are rising in the United States after heavy-duty police raids on several American universities, who are talking about unacceptable radicalization and anti-Semitism on campuses. One of the highest-ranking constitutional officials, the head of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, spoke in favor of using the National Guard. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said pro-Palestinian students belong in prison. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also commented on the situation, comparing the situation to the situation of the Jews in Nazi Germany. American heavy hitters intervened in New York, California and Texas. A number of universities have suspended classes until further notice. There are hundreds of arrested students. Students are already establishing protest tent cities at, for example, Harvard or Sciences Po in Paris.

Protests in support of Palestine and the Hamas terrorist movement began to spread across the United States last week, when students chanting anti-Semitic and pro-Hamas slogans occupied the Columbia University campus. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson arrived at New York University on Wednesday. In his speech, which was often interrupted by boos and calls for him to leave, he warned that the university was facing pressure from radical ideologies.

“They are painting a target for Jewish students here and across the United States. A growing number of students are calling out support for terrorists. They were chasing Jewish students around campus. They were cursing and mocking them. They were yelling racist slurs at them. They were yelling at those wearing the Star of David,” Johnson said. during a speech at the university. During the visit, he met with about 40 Jewish students. At the same time, he called on Rector Minouche Shafiková to resign.

She is also facing calls for her resignation from protesting students, after she authorized the intervention of the New York police on university grounds against the protesters. On the contrary, the board of directors of the university expressed its support to the rector.

Johnson also talked about the possibility of using the National Guard during the press conference. “If this situation does not end quickly and the threats and intimidation do not cease, it would be appropriate for the National Guard to intervene,” Johnson said. The National Guards are the armed forces of individual US states that fall under the governors of individual states.

It was the governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, who spoke most forcefully about the student protests so far. He sent heavy-duty police to the campus of the University of Texas, which is a state institution. “These protesters belong in jail. We will not tolerate anti-Semitism in Texas. Period,” the governor said on the X social network. Police arrested 34 students during Wednesday’s crackdown.

Jewish students and the umbrella organization for Jewish students at the university warned against the protesters. She condemned the hateful protests taking place during Passover and presented students with several ways to report hateful attacks.

In addition to Texas, police also intervened Wednesday at the University of Southern California, where officers arrested nearly 100 students after they disobeyed orders to disperse.

California Tech’s Humboldt University will remain closed over the weekend after students occupied the university’s administrative buildings.

Most of the protesters at American universities presented a series of demands to the university administration. Among them, across universities, for example, is the demand to stop cooperation with Israeli universities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also strongly condemned the situation at American universities. “Mobs of anti-Semites have occupied leading universities. They are calling for the destruction of Israel, attacking Jewish students, attacking Jewish teachers. It is reminiscent of German universities in the 1930s,” Netanyahu said.

However, students at other universities also joined the protests in the last hours. Harvard tried to close Harvard Yard, which is often the site of student demonstrations. Nevertheless, students flooded the area. French police announced that they had cracked down on dozens of protesters at Paris’ famous Sciences Po as well.