Voting

Pro-Palestinian protests are continuing to shake major American universities, prompting school officials to confront the escalating situation and gaining the attention of federal officials.The demonstrations, now in their eighth day at Columbia University, the college where the latest wave of protests began, are being closely monitored by the Biden administration. The White House is also keeping an eye on similar protests at other schools across the country.On Wednesday, following the signing of a $95 billion bipartisan foreign aid package that includes funding for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, President Joe Biden affirmed his administration’s effort to address the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.”We’re gonna immediately secure that aid, surge it, surge it including food, medical supplies, clean water, and Israel must make sure all this aid reaches the Palestinians in Gaza without delay,” Biden said at a press conference.Despite the president’s emphasis on humanitarian help for Gaza in the legislation, his “ironclad” support for Israel is at odds with the views of some young progressives. These are the same voters participating in the growing number of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses, whose support the president will need for his reelection bid this fall.While the national spotlight has been on Columbias New York City campus, similar demonstrations have grown across the country this week. Protests have been reported from Brown University in Rhode Island to the University of California at Berkeley.The White House is trying to both condemn antisemitism and address the gravity of the situation in Gaza. Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, said, “We believe in people being able to express themselves in a peaceful manner. But when we’re talking about hateful rhetoric, when we’re talking about violence, we have to call that out.”Political allies of Biden are downplaying a potential loss of support among young protesters in November. House Speaker Mike Johnson traveled to New York Wednesday to visit with Jewish students at Columbia. He was there to hear their concerns about their safety.President Biden will be in New York City on Friday. However, the White House and campaign officials say there are no plans for him to visit the Columbia campus.