From The Washington Post’s report by Peter Hermann [via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution]: D.C. police rejected pleas from George Washington University officials to clear pro-Palestinian demonstrators out of an on-campus encampment early Friday morning, saying they worried about the optics of moving against a small number of peaceful protesters, according to two officials familiar with the talks.
Officers had assembled around 3 a.m. and were prepared to enter the encampment, but senior leaders in the police chief’s and mayor’s office ordered them to stand down, the officials said. The demonstrators were small in number and largely peaceful, and the city officials told their university counterparts they wanted to avoid images of violent altercations between police and protesters flashing across TV screens across the country. The George Washington campus is just west of downtown Washington, five blocks from the White House.
They must not do this and they did not. The protesters have the right to protest peacefully and tenting on university land and chanting and shouting is peaceful. Israel and Jewish supporters must be careful here.Take this Q and A in the the Forward with Adam Lehman, chair of Hillel:
What’s your take on the rise of anti-Israel activity on campuses in the past week, and universities’ tougher responses to those protests — including calling in the police to arrest students at Columbia and Yale, among other campuses?
These out-of-control encampments [No.] are hugely problematic. They are preventing students from taking advantage of the campus activities [too bad] they’re supposed to be focused on. However well-meaning some of the protest activities may be, they’re fostering a culture of harassment and intimidation [Gotta be more specific] focused on Jewish students, Israeli students, and in some cases even leading to physical assault.
This current wave of protest activities is just straight ahead trafficking in discriminatory, exclusionary and sometimes violent language [have to give examples] that we would not tolerate if it was being directed at any other minority population or group.
They cannot with justice demand that the state suppress free speech even if that speech, WRONGLY, labels Israeli action in Gaza genocide. Speech that calls for violence against Jews--OR ANYONE--is not protected speech. Arrests of pro-Palestinian squatters and protesters is unconstitutional. Pro-Israel people should support peaceful pro-Palestine protests and counter with peaceful pro-Israel protests. They should not call on the state to suppress pro-Palestine speech and arrest pro-Palestine supporters and squatters. When they do, the state, as the District of Columbia did, should refuse. Clap out to D.C.
