WASHINGTON—The White House issued a statement on Sunday condemning anti-Israel protests at Columbia University in New York following reports that the school’s Orthodox rabbi advised Jewish students to stay away from campus for their safety.
“While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly Antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous,” Andrew Bates, White House deputy press secretary, stated on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
President Joe Biden issued a separate message for Passover, a Jewish holiday that starts on April 22.
The president’s message highlighted the “alarming surge of Antisemitism” in U.S. schools, communities, and online. However, he did not explicitly refer to incidents at Columbia University….