Israel war: White House pressed on anti-Israel protests on campus

Are anti-Israel protesters extremists?

That was one of many questions at Monday’s White House news briefing that pressed the issue of how strongly President Joe Biden condemns antisemitism.

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“I’ve been very, very clear,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in response to one query. “We are calling out any form of hate. Any form of hate. It is not acceptable. It should not be acceptable here. And we are going to continue to call that out.”

Despite Biden’s strong pro-Israel stance, protests have sprung up at college campuses across the United States supporting the Palestinian cause, and there have been reports of threats against Jewish students.

Jean-Pierre fielded several questions about the developments, ranging from whether college administrators should come down more strongly against the protests to whether she condemns reported threats against a sitting senator.

She mostly stuck to the idea that the White House opposes all forms of hate.

“Antisemitism has no place, no place in this country,” she said. “There is no room for hate. We’ve been very clear about that.”

One reporter asked if anti-Israel protesters were “extremists,” a label the Biden administration has not shied away from using to describe Republicans.

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“We hear you talk about extremists all the time,” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked. “But it’s usually about MAGA extremists. So what about these protesters who are making Jewish students feel unsafe on college campuses? Are they extremists?”

“This is a president that has continued to have that fight [against hate] in this office, in this administration,” Jean-Pierre responded. “When he repealed Trump’s Muslim ban on his first day in office, he also established an interpolicy committee to counter Islamophobia, antisemitism, and related forms of bias and discrimination.”