Hamas, Iran praise anti-Israel college protests in US: 'Leaders of the future'
An official with the Palestinian terror group Hamas and the supreme leader of Iran have praised the growing college campus protests in the United States against Israel's military offensive in Gaza, including pro-Hamas demonstrations at Columbia University that have driven fear into the hearts of Jewish students.
Columbia University in New York City announced a shift to hybrid classes after protestors set up a "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" last Wednesday. This led to the arrest of more than 100 people after Columbia University President Minouche Shafik authorized police to clear the camp. The demonstrators resettled the encampment, and there have been multiple reports of Jewish members of Columbia's community feeling unsafe due to the encampment.
The demonstration has prompted calls for the Biden administration to take away the school's federal funding and discipline the demonstrators, which some say should include revoking the visas of the students expressing support for terrorist groups.
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On Wednesday, Izzat Al-Risheq, a member of Hamas' political bureau, accused the Biden administration of violating student and faculty rights, claiming that they are only rejecting "the genocide that our Palestinian people are the subjected in the Gaza Strip at the hands of the neo-Nazi Zionists."
USA Today quoted the Hamas official as saying, "Today's students are the leaders of the future."
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also praised the protests.
"Western governments say the Resistance Front is terrorism," Khamenei wrote in a tweet. "This comes at a time when people flew Hezbollah's flag in a street in the US. The people of the world are supporting the Resistance Front because they are resisting & because they are against oppression."
Khamenei's "oppression" comment comes as the Islamic Republic of Iran has a notorious record for infringing on the rights of religious minorities through imprisonment. Iran also used lethal force to crack down on widespread protests in 2022.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said Tuesday that while the Biden administration values the freedom of expression, it views "calls for violence, physical intimidation, hateful, antisemitic rhetoric" as "unacceptable."
On Monday, Provost Angela Olinto announced in a statement new teaching guidelines for the remainder of the semester at Columbia University. Classes on the Morningside main campus will switch to hybrid learning — "classroom technology permitting" — until the end of the Spring 2024 semester. Arts and practice-based programs and, as well as classes at the medical center and Manhattanville will continue to be in-person, but Olinto said the school will offer accommodations.
"Faculty in other classrooms or teaching spaces that do not have capabilities for offering hybrid options should hold classes remotely if there are student requests for virtual participation. If the class does not permit adapting to the remote offering format, we encourage faculty to provide other accommodations liberally to students who have requested support for virtual learning this week," the provost stated.
In a Tuesday letter to several Biden administration officials, including Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., condemned Columbia University's decision to move to a hybrid learning model, stating that this allows protestors to "further disrupt learning."
"Columbia University was one of the first schools into which the Biden Administration opened a Title VI investigation following the October 7th attack. There is clear and convincing evidence that students at Columbia have been targeted because they are Jewish, and the university has allowed this to persist without consequence," Stefanik wrote.
"It is past time for the Department of Education to publish the findings of this investigation and hold the university accountable," she continued. "Furthermore, the Department must take action to revoke any federal funding flowing to Columbia and similar institutions so taxpayers are not funding the ongoing discrimination."
The Republican lawmaker called on the Department of Homeland Security to act in accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act by revoking the visas of students who have publicly expressed support for terrorist organizations like Hamas.
According to the act, an individual is generally considered ineligible for entry into the U.S. if they have engaged in or endorsed terrorist activity.
Earlier this week, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, responded to an incident at Columbia University involving a young woman holding up a sign in front of Jewish students that stated, "Al-Qasam's Next Targets." The group of counter-protestors had been waving Israeli and U.S. flags while playing Jewish music and the U.S. national anthem through a loudspeaker.
"If she is a student, she should be expelled. If she is a professor, she should be fired," Cruz stated.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy organization, the girl's sign is referring to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. On Oct. 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel that killed at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians. Over 240 hostages were abducted during the attack.
In response, Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza to eradicate Hamas, a terror group that has controlled the territory since 2007, and secure the release of hostages. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says at least 34,000 people have been killed since the war began last October. However, those figures don't differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Luke Moon, deputy director of the Middle East Christian advocacy group The Philos Project, shared a Tuesday video of the anti-Israeli demonstrations at college campuses nationwide, including Yale University in Connecticut.
In addition to sharing a photo of the girl holding the sign endorsing Hamas' military wing, Moon played a clip of anti-Israel protestors near Columbia University chanting, "Al-Qassam, you make us proud, kill another soldier now."
The Philos Project director said that students who are here on a visa and supporting terrorism should be expelled and have their visas revoked. Moon also encouraged people of faith to push back against the current climate, stating, "God has not given us a spirit of fear."
"I need you Christians to be bold and stand up now in this moment," Moon said.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
