It’s fallen on the GOP to take action to stand up for the safety of minority students on our school campuses, much as President Dwight Eisenhower did in the 1950s when he sent the National Guard to protect African Americans trying to attend Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School.
This past week has shown that President Joe Biden and the majority of Democrats lacked the moral clarity to protect Jewish-American students from the pro-Palestinian/Hamas mobs that have overtaken several college campuses throughout the country.
On Monday, the best that Biden could muster was to repeat a reporter’s question back to her, saying he does condemn “anti-Semitic protests,” but adding, “I also condemn those that don’t know what’s going on with the Palestinians.”
“Do you condemn antisemitic protests on college campuses?
BIDEN: “I condemn the antisemitic protests…I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians…”
“Should Columbia Univers. President resign?”
“I didn’t know that. I’ll have to find out more” pic.twitter.com/uw2fnS19Ef— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) April 22, 2024
The White House also issued a similar on-the-one-hand, on-the-other-hand statement Sunday.
The pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University want the school to divest from Israel due to its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The military response came after Hamas terrorists from Gaza invaded Israel, killing approximately 1,200 Jewish people and taking over 250 captive.
The Associated Press reported earlier this month that over 33,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict, but noted the Hamas-controlled health ministry providing the figures does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties.
Columbia University, located in upper Manhattan, announced earlier this week it was going to remote learning in response to thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters who have converged on the campus, many of whom established an encampment.
The decision came after a prominent rabbi at the school told Jewish students to “return home as soon as possible,” because their safety on campus could not be guaranteed.
Chants of the pro-Palestinian protesters have included, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and, “Long live the Intifada.”
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Protesters at Columbia University in New York, USA, chant in support of Palestine at a Gaza solidarity encampment. pic.twitter.com/B7ci564tmU— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 18, 2024
“From the river to the sea” means from the Jordan River on the eastern border of Israel to the Mediterranean Sea on its western border. In other words, it’s a call to wipe out the entire nation of Israel, with its over seven million Jewish inhabitants.
The Intifada refers to violent terrorism against Jewish people.
Why are my friends and I being run off our own campus? We are not moving. pic.twitter.com/2T5JLSI0OH
— Jessica Schwalb (@jessicaschwalb7) April 22, 2024
On Tuesday, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas called for the National Guard to be deployed to Columbia to restore order.
Cotton posted Monday on X, “The nascent pogroms at Columbia have to stop TODAY, before our Jewish brethren sit for Passover Seder tonight.”
“If Eric Adams won’t send the NYPD and [New York Gov.] Kathy Hochul won’t send the National Guard, Joe Biden has a duty to take charge and break up these mobs,” he added.
The nascent pogroms at Columbia have to stop TODAY, before our Jewish brethren sit for Passover Seder tonight. If Eric Adams won’t send the NYPD and Kathy Hochul won’t send the National Guard, Joe Biden has a duty to take charge and break up these mobs.
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) April 22, 2024
On Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson, with other House GOP members, went right to the center of the storm on Columbia.
“I am here to proclaim to all those who gnash their teeth and demand to wipe the state of Israel off the map and attack our innocent Jewish students, this simple truth: Neither Israel, nor these Jewish students on this campus will ever stand alone,” he said.
“Today, Hamas issued an endorsement statement of the protesters on this campus. They called them the future leaders of America. It is detestable,” the speaker continued.
“All of this has to be said because the cherished traditions of this university are being overtaken by radical and extreme ideologies. They place a target on the backs of Jewish students in the United States and here on this campus,” he said.
As a reference point to how far left the university has gone, Eisenhower, who led the allied forces in Europe during World War II, actually served as president of Columbia University following the war before returning to active military duty in 1951 to head up the newly formed NATO — the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Johnson recounted that the protesters have chanted in support of terrorists and “chased down Jewish students,” mocking them and shouting racial epithets at those wearing Stars of David. The speaker had met with Jewish students on campus before his remarks, who related their experiences.
He noted that as many as 200 other universities now have similar protests like that seen at Columbia.
Johnson called on Columbia president Minouche Shafik to resign “if she cannot immediately bring order to this chaos.”
He closed saying, “To every Jewish student listening to us, no matter where you are around the country, you have my word the U.S. House of Representatives will do everything in our power to ensure that you are safe, you can freely practice your faith, and you can go to school, just like everybody else.”
Johnson told ABC News on Wednesday, “If they can’t get control of it on the university campus, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard to be involved.”
Earlier in the week, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri referenced Eisenhower’s decision to federalize the National Guard and send in the federal troops to restore order in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957, when nine black students were not allowed to enter Central High School.
“Eisenhower sent the 101st to Little Rock. It’s time for Biden to call out the National Guard at our universities to protect Jewish Americans,” he posted on X.
Eisenhower sent the 101st to Little Rock.
It’s time for Biden to call out the National Guard at our universities to protect Jewish Americans— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 22, 2024
Ike’s decision came after Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus ordered his state’s National Guard to block the integration of Central High School, in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, ruling segregated schools were unconstitutional.
An angry mob formed outside the high school, shouting racial slurs and spitting on the “Little Rock Nine,” as they came to be known, according to History.com.
Eisenhower issued an executive order putting the Arkansas Guard under federal authority and sent in 1,000 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division to ensure the students’ safety.
In 1957, Republican President Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne to protect the “Little Rock Nine.” Today, Democratic President Biden does what? Anything beyond useless words obscured by a blizzard of statements and actions hostile to Israel? pic.twitter.com/X6F3j2jTWt
— Stephen Ben-Zeev (@benzeev1948) April 22, 2024
The president then addressed the matter in televised remarks from the Oval Office.
Eisenhower said that the mob in Little Rock had done “tremendous disservice” to the cause and reputation of their state and the United States around the world, as a nation based on upholding fundamental human rights.
He stated his intention to see order restored, consistent with the Constitution, so that America could once again be known as “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Now that’s leadership.
Democrat President John Kennedy followed Ike’s Little Rock example in the early 1960s by federalizing the National Guard to ensure the integration of the University of Mississippi and the University of Alabama, when mobs, supported by Democrat governors, in those states resisted.
Following the incident at the University of Alabama, Kennedy addressed the nation that evening saying, “We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.”
“The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated,” JFK said, in a reference to the Golden Rule, articulated by Jesus Christ.
Republicans like Johnson, Cotton and Hawley are showing the moral clarity this moment requires. Calling in the National Guard appears to be what will be required to ensure the safety of all Americans on college campuses.
