Police arrest thousands at colleges across the US to clear anti-Israel protests, encampments

One University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) student went viral on TikTok after anti-Israel agitators blocked him from walking across campus twice, shortly before law enforcement broke up the encampment, leaving the once-beautiful campus ridden with graffiti and trash.

Milagro Jones, a senior at UCLA, joined "America's Newsroom" to discuss the encounter with the pro-Palestinian demonstrators and how he responded to the attempt to thwart him from accessing his campus library.

"I was stopped by masked, anti-Israel protesters who mistook me for someone of Jewish background," Jones told Hemmer and Perino on Friday. "They said I was an Israeli agitator. They physically assaulted me on Friday. The last time that I was on campus, they actually punched my brother in the head. They reached into their hoodie pocket and claimed that they had a weapon."

"I just wanted to free my campus from these people," he continued. "I wanted to give my other students an opportunity to be able to access the campus without segregation, without people telling us that we can't go to the library, and I just want to see a safe, beautiful campus where we can all learn, and we can all come together for positivity, for education."

Jones posted a clip of an exchange with an anti-Israel protester when he tried to breach the encampment to reach the library.

Fox News' Bailee Hill contributed to this report.

After a show of patriotism on the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill campus earlier this week when students prevented an American flag from hitting the ground and sang the National Anthem, students at Rutgers University followed suit.

Rutgers students on Thursday waved American flags and chanted "USA!" amid anti-Israel protests on Voorhees Mall at the New Brunswick, New Jersey, university.

"Toward the latter half of their encampment yesterday, a handful of what I consider patriotic students went on campus and they obviously were chanting ‘USA!' They sang the National Anthem," Rutgers student Jeremy Li, class of 2025, told Fox News Digital on Friday. "They were probably standing up for American values, despite all the conflicting chaos that's been happening on campus recently."

Li added that he thought the counter-protesters were "great to see."

"We're seeing a movement that started at UNC that I think hopefully will move across the country," he told Fox News Digital.

Fox News' Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.

A Catholic chaplain at Columbia University said anti-Israel protests on New York City college campuses are being organized in part by "explicitly communist" groups. 

Father Roger Landry said he walked through the student encampment at Columbia on an almost daily basis and noticed groups of “pro-Hamas” supporters outside the campus gates. 

“I got alot of the fliers that were passing out,” he said Thursday on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo." They basically fell into three categories. All three were explicitly communist groups that were justifying what Hamas had done out of this neo-Marxist oppressor versus oppressed ideology."

“This divide and conquer class warfare that comes from Marx and Lenin is the exact antithesis of what Jesus Christ himself taught,” he continued. “So, I try to get the Catholic students aware of that problem so at least they’re inoculated to that intellectual virus.” 

Landry said many of the school's Catholic students have voiced frustrations at the protest, which forced Columbia to move many classes online and has impeded them from accessing the campus. 

While many of the protesters are genuinely concerned for the people in the Gaza Strip, there was a “sizable” percentage of whom who are “explicitly in favor of Hamas” and “definitely antisemitic by their language and their actions.”

College students in Canada are following their counterparts in the United States by erecting anti-Israel encampments at universities across the country.

Canadian college students have set up encampments at the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, the University of Ottawa and Montreal's McGill University, Reuters reported. 

“Much of what we’ve all seen play out on U.S. campuses is now happening here in Canada,” Casey Babb, with the Macdonald Laurier Institute and the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, and who teaches courses on terrorism and international security at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa, told Fox News Digital. 

“While the encampments are concerning in and of themselves, what’s more worrisome is the antisemitic language and hostile activities characterizing these gatherings,” Babb added. 

Quebec Premier Francois Legault on Thursday said the encampment at McGill should be dismantled. 

"We want the camp to be dismantled. We trust the police, let them do their job," a spokesperson for Legault said.

Students at the University of Toronto set up an encampment where some 100 protesters gathered Thursday with tents. A university spokesperson said the school was having a dialogue with the organizers and that the encampment was "not disruptive to normal university activities."

"If public disruption is the only way to get our voice heard, then we are willing to do that," University of Toronto graduate student and encampment spokesperson Sara Rasikh told Reuters. 

When asked to comment, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office pointed to a Tuesday statement in which he said: "Universities are places of learning, they’re places for freedom of expression ... but that only works if people feel safe on campus. Right now ... Jewish students do not feel safe. That’s not right."

Jewish students have been prevented from moving freely and harassed on campuses, said Babb. 

“Further - the overwhelming majority of students at these universities - those who want no part in this lunacy - are also having their college experiences upended.," he said "So - it isn’t just the Jewish community having to deal with this.”

To add insult to injury, many of the protesters aren't even students at the universities, he added. 

“We’re seeing a lot of people who are capitalizing on this opportunity for their own thoughtless reasons, as well as people who are clearly being supported - likely paid - by organizations with no connection to the universities impacted by these activities," said Babb. 

A library at Portland State University in Oregon has been "rendered unusable” after anti-Israel protesters took over the building this week, the school president said Friday. 

Officers with the Portland Police Bureau cleared out the Branford Price Millar Library this week after it had been occupied for days.

“This morning I took a tour of the Branford Price Millar Library and it was difficult to see this important campus space rendered unusable," PSU President Ann Cudd said in a statement. "The library team is working to get remote services up and running and we are also endeavoring to identify and equip alternative study spaces throughout campus.”

School administrators expected the building to reopen for the fall 2024 term. 

Cudd also said she postponed a May 10 Presidential Investiture Ceremony in which she was supposed to be  inaugurated as university president. 

The U.S. Department of Education's (DOE) Office for Civil Rights is investigating Atlanta's Emory University for alleged anti-Muslim discrimination on campus. 

The investigation comes as college campuses across America are being engulfed by disruptive, chaotic and often violent anti-Israel protests — leaving many Jewish students with no choice but to flee campus or fear for their safety.

The DOE’s investigation comes after the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia) and Palestine Legal filed a civil rights complaint against the school on behalf of Emory Students for Justice in Palestine. 

The groups claim that Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students have been called "terrorists," "fake Muslims" and endured severe harassment, intimidation and discrimination on campus and online. It claims students had their flyers, noting the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, ripped down or thrown in the trash.

"The last 6 months at Emory University have been difficult for Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students. We want the Department of Education to do what Emory failed to — which is [to] investigate our reports of bias properly, listen to our voices, and hold Emory accountable, so we can safely advocate for Palestinian rights without fearing for our safety on campus," Emory Students for Justice in Palestine said in a release from CAIR-Georgia about the complaint.

"No student should ever feel marginalized, intimidated and unsafe like we have been feeling," the group added. "We are here to learn, and we should be able to do so in peace without being threatened, harassed and dox[x]ed simply for being Palestinian, Muslim, Arab or a supporter of Palestinian rights."

A small group of counter-protesters drowned out the voices of anti-Israel agitators on the Louisiana State University campus Friday as they they waved American and Israeli flags. 

LSU junior Ethan Vogin, 20, a political science major, told Fox News Digital he mobilized a group for a “pro-America counter-protest” to “tell these terrorist-supporting protesters that they're not welcome on our campus.”

“They are people who are protecting and standing behind terrorists,” Vogin told Fox News Digital. “Palestine is run by Hamas. I support the free people of Palestine but I do not support their terrorist government.”

Video footage shows a group on the LSU Baton Rouge campus chanting “USA, USA” while waving the U.S. and Israeli flags. Pro-Palestinian flags were seen in the background being held by anti-Israel supporters. 

Vogin, who is Jewish, said the university has managed the anti-Israel protests in the correct fashion, as opposed to other colleges where administrators have been heavily criticized for not taking a hard stance on the antisemitic rhetoric heard during anti-Israel demonstrations.  

“I think LSU has done a tremendous job in this situation,” he said. “They have not made a public support for Israel or for Palestine, which I think is correct. They don't have a horse in this race.” 

The University of California, Riverside has reached an agreement with anti-Israel protesters to disband an encampment after the school agreed to several provisions regarding transparency and its study abroad business programs. 

As part of the agreement, UCR will create a task force to explore the removal of the school's endowment from its investment office as well as discontinuing Global Programs by the university's School of Business in the United States, Cuba, Vietnam, Brazil, China, Egypt, Jordan and Israel. 

"These meetings have been productive, civil, and representative of multiple points of view on how to reach a resolution,” said UCR Chancellor Kim Wilcox said in a statement. “It has been my goal to resolve this matter peacefully and I am encouraged by this outcome – which was generated through constructive dialogue.” 

"This agreement does not change the realities of the war in Gaza, or the need to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination; however, I am grateful that we can have constructive and peaceful conversations on how to address these complex issues,” Wilcox added.

The UCR chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine praised the agreement in an Instagram post. 

“While this is a victory, we know there is still a long road to full divestment and look forward to seeing how the students continue to organize and hold their administration accountable for their complicity in the occupation of Palestine," an SJP statement said. 

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Indiana University after a graduate student and tenured professor were banned from the Bloomington campus following there arrests while participating in anti-Israel protests. 

Bloomington resident Jasper Wirtshafter, Benjamin Robinson, a  tenured professor of Germanic studies, and graduate student Madeleine Meldrum were demonstrating at Dunn Meadow, a 20-acre public forum space on campus designated for protests and demonstrations, when they were arrested and later banned, according to the lawsuit. 

A spokesperson for the university told Fox News Digital that it doesn't comment on pending litigation.  

Several Jewish organizations pulled out of a high-level meeting with the Department of Education about antisemitism on campuses on Friday morning after finding out far-left groups were added at the last minute, Fox News Digital has confirmed.

The groups, which "either did not participate in or dropped off the call," the Jewish Insider reported, included the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federations of North America, Hillel International, the Orthodox Union, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

The decision was made shortly before the 10 a.m. meeting between the Jewish groups and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, White House Domestic Policy Adviser Neera Tanden and other senior officials. 

According to Jewish Insider, government officials sent out a list of participating organizations only 20 minutes prior to the meeting, which "included a number of left-wing groups not usually included in White House convenings," prompting the last-minute withdrawal. The morning meeting with the Department of Education continued as scheduled, but a separate meeting for the objecting organizations took place Friday afternoon.

"The mainstream Jewish organizations took particular issue with the invitation of the Diaspora Alliance, which is "closely aligned with the far-left Jewish activist group IfNotNow."

The group IfNotNow is an anti-Israel Jewish organization that has staged several protests to block highways. Its website accuses Israel of having an "apartheid system" and states that the Jewish nation "massacres Palestinians in Gaza."

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik broke her silence Friday regarding the anti-Israel protests that has engulfed the Ivy League campus, saying administrators tried to have a “sincere” offers to demonstrators but that they “crossed a line” with the occupation of a building. 

“These past two weeks have been among the most difficult in Columbia's history,” Shafik said in a video message posted online. “The turmoil and tension, division and disruption have impacted the entire community.”

The university has been filled with “turmoil and tension” after protesters took over Hamilton Hall and created an encampment that has resulted in clashes with authorities. 

"The university made a sincere and good offer but it was not accepted," said Shafik. "A group of protesters crossed a new line with the occupation of Hamilton Hall. It was a violent act that put our students at risk, as well as putting the protesters at risk. I walked through the building and saw the damage which was distressing."

The NYPD breached Hamilton Hall on Tuesday and then cleared an encampment site hours later at the request of the school. 

Shafik said antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias have existed for "a long time." She urged student to show "empathy" and "compassion" for one another.

"We have a lot to do," Shafik said. "But I am committed to working at it everyday and with each of you to rebuild community on our campus."

A large American flag was unfurled behind a statue of George Washington at the university that bears his name days after anti-Israel protesters draped the statue of the first president with the Palestinian flag. 

The statue at George Washington University in Washington D.C. was defaced with the flag as well as notes and stickers calling for Palestinian liberation. 

Protesters also draped the statue with a keffiyeh, a scarf that has come to symbolize Palestinian solidarity.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the administrators at several New York universities over the arrests of anti-Israel protesters while applauding the Biden administration for launching a probe into alleged Islamophobic discrimination at Emory University. 

CAIR's New York chapter issued a statement denouncing officials at New York University, The New School, University of Buffalo and Stony Brook University over the arrests. 

“We stand in solidarity with the student protesters at these universities who are advocating for justice and an end to genocide,” Afaf Nasher, executive director of CAIR-NY, said in a statement. “It is deeply troubling to see this continuing trend of university administrations resorting to extreme punitive measures against their own students instead of engaging in dialogue and addressing their concerns.”

Nasher also urged district attorneys to drop all charges against the students arrested in an effort to "reaffirm its commitment to supporting their right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression.”

CAIR, which advocates for Muslim-Americans, has defended anti-Israel protesters protesters on college campuses despite some being involved in illegal activity and antisemitic rhetoric. The group's executive director and co-founder, Nihad Awad, previously praised the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas.

"The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7," said Awad at the 16th Annual Convention for Palestine in the U.S. on Nov. 24. "And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land that they were not free to walk in."

The CAIR chapter in Georgia also praised the Department of Education for opening an investigation into the treatment of Arabs on the Emory University campus, saying the probe is “a welcome step and one we hope leads to answers about the failures of Emory University to address anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian activity since October last year.”

“The Department can confirm the Office for Civil Rights opened a Title VI Shared Ancestry investigation into Emory University on April 30,” a DOE spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

On Friday, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said he was disturbed by the rise in antisemitism on college campuses. 

“This is an extremely challenging moment for many school communities across the country,” he said in a statement. "What we are witnessing every day on college campuses is deeply concerning, as we hear increasing reports of students feeling unsafe.

"Students should be able to learn, attend class, and go to commencements without fear or disruption of their educational experience," he added. "There is no place for violence on campus ever. As President Biden said yesterday, 'In America, violent protest is not protected; peaceful protest is.'"

President Biden has called out all forms of hate, including Islamophobia and antisemitism on college campuses, the White House said Friday. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked by Fox News' Peter Doocy about the president's Thursday remarks condemning Islamophobia despite the antisemitic rhetoric being heard on college campuses amid anti-Israel protests. 

“Does he think Islamophobia is just as big of a problem on campus as antisemitism?” Doocy asked. “The president's always going to call out all forms of hate, always,” Jean-Pierre replied. “And he had an opportunity to speak to the country and we have seen what's been going on this campus as Americans have the right to peacefully protest within the law. As we have said, it's part of who we are as a country, as we talk about our freedoms, our democracy, to disagree and agree with each other, even about this war, it is our right to do so. It is right for folks to do so.”

On Thursday, Biden broke his silence about the protests raging on college campuses across the country. 

"There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students," he said. "There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia or discrimination against Arab-Americans or Palestinian-Americans. It’s simply wrong. There’s no place for racism in America. It’s all wrong. It’s un-American."

Some critics accused the president of denouncing antisemitism while also pandering to Muslims. Jean-Pierre noted that there has been a spike in antisemitism and that Biden has called it out “over and over and over again.”

“The president has been very forceful about that. He talked about his plan to counter antisemitism," she said. "He had an opportunity, as he's talking to the country, the world really, on what has been happening across the country on college campuses to call out antisemitism, to say that Americans have the right to peacefully protest. And we also have to call it all forms of hate.”

The University of Southern California will hold a “family graduate celebration,” the school announced Friday, just over a week after it canceled the graduation ceremony for its main stage. 

The school previously announced the cancelation of the main stage graduation commencement amid new safety measures following anti-Israel protests on the Los Angeles campus.

The event was expected to draw around 65,000 attendees.  

“Please join us with your family and loved ones next Thursday to celebrate your accomplishments in a big way – and come together as a Trojan Family,” Friday’s announcement states. 

The event will be held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum near the campus. Visitors can expect “drone shows, fireworks, surprise performances, the Trojan Marching Band, and a special gift just for the Class of 2024,” the school said. 

Individual school commencement ceremonies, doctoral hooding ceremonies and other celebrations and activities will still be held between May 8-11,

A group of Republican senators, led by Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee are calling for anti-Israel protesters on college campuses to be deemed ineligible from having their student loans forgiven if they are convicted of a crime.

"Hamas sympathizers engaging in criminal behavior on college campuses should be ineligible for student loan bailouts," Blackburn said in a statement announcing the "No Bailouts for Campus Criminals Act."  "We must hold these criminals accountable and ensure taxpayer dollars do not go toward paying off their debt."

Cotton has been vocal critic of the protests as demonstrators have clashed with authorities, set up illegal encampments and taken over campus buildings at some schools.

"Americans who never went to college or responsibly paid off their debts shouldn't have to pay off other people's student loans," he said in a statement. "They especially shouldn't have to pay off the loans of Hamas sympathizers shutting down and defacing campuses."

On Thursday, Cotton described the protests as "little Gazas" that have risen up and that are "disgusting cesspools of antisemitic hate."

A large rally is ongoing Friday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in support of Israel. 

Footage has captured a crowd chanting “USA!” and waving American and Israeli flags. 

The event was organized by the nonprofit Israeli-American Council, according to The Boston Globe. 

An MIT physics professor told Fox News at the rally that “Israel is fighting for its survival” and that the “majority of students at MIT are really frustrated” that the anti-Israel protests are becoming a distraction ahead of finals for the semester. 

A student group at Princeton University in New Jersey reportedly launched a hunger strike Friday. 

“Participants will abstain from all food and drink (except water) until our demands are met. We commit our bodies to their liberation of Palestine. PRINCETON, hear us now! We will not be moved!” read an Instagram post from calling itself Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest. 

It’s not immediately clear how many students at Princeton are participating in the action. 

The group describes itself as “The campaign calling on Princeton to divest from Israel.” 

It’s demands include “complete amnesty from all criminal and disciplinary charges for participants of the peaceful sit-in" and a meeting with school leadership/

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., defended student protests on college campuses across the U.S. against the Israel-Hamas war, arguing that President Biden is putting himself in a weak position politically and morally by his support of Israel. 

"This may be Biden's Vietnam," Sanders said of the mass student protests against President Biden during an interview with CNN on Thursday. 

"Lyndon Johnson in many respects was a very, very good president domestically and brought forth some major pieces of legislation," he continued. "He chose not to run in 1968 because of opposition to his views on Vietnam." 

"I worry very much that President Biden is putting himself in a position where he has alienated not just young people, but a lot of the Democratic base in terms of his views on Israel and this war," Sanders said.