Biden's lack of response to anti-Israel protests gives sense America's 'out-of-control': Howard Kurtz
'The Story with Martha MacCallum' panelists react to President Biden's handling of nationwide anti-Israel protests rocking college campuses.
President Biden is being called out for his conspicuous absence as anti-Israel agitators grow increasingly confrontational on campuses across America.
After weeks of protests amid the war in Gaza, universities are cracking down on anti-Israel encampments that have taken over their campuses, in some cases breaking into and taking over buildings. There have been hundreds of arrests at Columbia, Yale and UCLA and elsewhere.
Biden, despite often speaking about political extremism, has been widely criticized for not coming out himself and condemning the sometimes violent agitators.
The White House on Wednesday announced that Biden will deliver a speech next Tuesday on Capitol Hill for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony. The speech will reportedly address the campus protests and rising antisemitism in the country.
President Joe Biden has been criticized by public figures for his absence amid chaos at American universities amid the war in Gaza. (Biden photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP) (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images, Fordham university photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images )
Former President Donald Trump told Sean Hannity on Tuesday night that Biden has to "strengthen up and he's gotta be heard" when it comes to campus protests. He also argued that there are "paid agitators" among these protests and suggested that Columbia University should have called in the police sooner.
The former president was part of a wave of figures condemning the protests on social media and calling Biden to task for his absence, asking, "Where is Biden?"
"Trump is absolutely right! America is being conquered by the same PAID AGITATORS that came out in 2020," talk show host Graham Allen claimed. "Where is Biden?!?? Why is he missing in action?!?!"
"People asking #WhereIsBiden. Has he been present at all during his presidency? Lol," NFL defensive lineman Nicholas Williams wrote.
"Where is President Biden?" Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote, "He either supports the campus Hamas mobs or he’s too weak and scared to condemn them. Either way, he’s unfit to lead."
Mounted police work to contain demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza at the University of Texas at Austin on April 24 in Austin, Texas. Students walked out of class as protests continue to sweep college campuses around the country. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
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"Do you remember the game 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?' Well today's reality is ‘Where in the World is Joseph Robinette Biden?’" former White House press secretary and "Outnumbered" co-host Kayleigh McEnany wrote. "When the President wants to speak, it's easy, but why won't he forcefully and directly condemn these antisemitic protests himself?"
"This is actually happening in NYC. These people are calling for the genocide of Jews! Are you kidding me??? Where is Biden?" conservative social media personality Lisa Hudson Chow wrote. "Why isn’t he saying anything? What if they were calling for the genocide of Latinos, or Asians or Blacks? What would the response be then? I believe all hell would break loose if it was another group of people. Silence from Biden means complicity."
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"The Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville was reprehensible. But it ended in two days," Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer wrote. "What’s happening now on college campuses is worse. It’s been happening for weeks with no end in sight. It’s based on hatred toward Jews and America. Where is Biden? Biden the hypocrite is silent."
After condemning Trump for Charlottesville and saying that was his motivation for running for president in 2020, Biden had what some called his own "very fine people on both sides" moment when asked about the college protests on April 22.
"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," he said.
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One anonymous account using the hashtag, "WhereIsBiden?" shared a comical fake image of Biden eating ice cream as a dumpster fire floated by in a flood behind him.
Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
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