Sen. Tom Cotton demands Biden crack down on anti-Israel agitators on college campuses
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called on the NYPD and President Biden to crack down on protesters harassing Jewish students on the campuses of NYU and Columbia University.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said President Biden has a "duty" to protect Jewish students on New York City college campuses if law enforcement, Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul will not crack down on the increasingly hostile anti-Israel protests overtaking campuses there.
Anti-Israel NYU students staged a walkout on Tuesday after a night of violent protests that resulted in over 100 people being arrested. Video shows demonstrators hurling bottles at NYPD officers who were sent to the scene to disperse a large, unruly crowd.
Violence has also spilled out at Columbia University, resulting in in-person classes being canceled due to concerns for students' safety.
Appearing on "America Reports," on Tuesday, Cotton urged the NYPD to exercise its "obligation" and "right" to protect citizens and arrest people breaking the law on the university's campus.
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Cotton argued that if neither Adams nor Hochul would step up to protect Jewish students, Biden needed to take action.
"Joe Biden has a duty to protect these Jewish students," he told Fox News' Sandra Smith. "These are scenes like you've seen out of 1930s in Germany that should never be witnessed or tolerated here in America, in 2024."
Hochul has thus far resisted pressure to send in the National Guard to quell the anti-Israel protests on campus.
Cotton also called on the Biden administration to deport any foreign student engaging in these disruptive demonstrations.
"Any of these students who are foreigners, here on visas, should immediately have their visas revoked by the Biden administration and promptly deported," he said.
"They have no right to be here, they certainly have no right to be here spewing antisemitic and anti-Israel filth."
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Cotton further questioned who is funding these protests and called on the Department of Justice to "get to the bottom of it."
"They don't look just spontaneous to me, when they are sitting out there in $500 camping tents," he remarked.
Cotton and other Republican senators sent a letter on Tuesday demanding the Biden administration address the escalating antisemitic encampments on college campuses and "prosecute the mobs who have perpetuated violence and threats against Jewish students."
Biden was accused of equivocating on the anti-Israel protests on Monday after he told reporters, "I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians."