The author’s opinion appears at the bottom of this article and is written in italics. 

24 April 2024, New York City, Yitzhak ben Moshe – Several American universities have been flooded with anti-Israel agitators on Wednesday, with four schools hosting chaotic scenes in California, Massachusetts, Texas, and New York.

The University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, Columbia, and Harvard Universities were the scenes of various degrees of hostility and hateful opposition to the Israeli military actions in the Middle East.

At USC, chaos erupted when authorities began stopping unlawful activity and arresting protesters. Hundreds of students clashed with USC Public Safety officers as tempers flared and emotions ran high.

At UT Austin, demonstrators flooded the school’s South Lawn and attempted to erect several tents before being confronted by police. Over 100 protesters participated in the anti-Israel demonstration.

The Austin Police Department (APD) and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said more than 20 people were arrested. The protesters chanted incendiary statements like “Pigs go home!” and “APD, KKK, IDF / they’re all the same.”

Gov. Greg Abbott condemned the protest on X, writing that the offending individuals “belong in jail.”

“Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period,” he wrote. “Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.”

At Harvard, anti-Israel protesters set up a “Gaza solidarity encampment” at Harvard Yard. According to the Harvard Crimson, it began at around 12:49 p.m.

Social media video showed protesters swarming the quadrangle and rapidly erecting tents. As of Wednesday night, at least 20 tents were still on Harvard’s campus, but the initial crowd of students had “dispersed,” the Crimson reported.

These misguided demonstrators planned to stay the night and solicited water, food, sleeping bags, and tent donations through the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee. 

Columbia University, a hotbed of anti-Israel protests over the past week, was also flooded with protesters on Wednesday.

U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson arrived at the New York campus to talk about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and crisis in Gaza. In his speech, Johnson targeted school administrators for allowing “threats, the fear and the intimidation of the mob rule to overtake American principles like free speech and the free exchange of ideas and the free exercise of religion.”

“We just can’t allow this kind of hatred and enemy antisemitism to flourish on our campuses, and it must be stopped in its tracks,” Johnson argued.

The Republican leader also said he planned to speak with President Biden about the National Guard intervening.

“If this is not contained quickly and these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard. We have to bring order to these campuses,” he said. “We cannot allow this to happen around the country.”

These protests, the product of misguided children with the belief that Islam is a peaceful religion, are utterly lost. 

I have spoken with several groups, and a more significant piece is forthcoming that identifies as LGBTQ+ and believes that queer rights are Palestinian rights. 

One group coordinator, Bryon Maylok, said, “We believe that Hamas is nothing more than an advocacy group who fights hate and misinformation on many fronts. They accept our help, and they accept us for who we are.”

Bryon, like so many others, does not care that Hamas has no problem ending the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals by tossing them off rooftops. 

It is time for those of us who are right-thinking and know the truth to encourage these lost individuals to relocate to Gaza and join Hamas.