Johnson slams Biden's protest policy, calls for legal action on-campus
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House Speaker Mike Johnson has criticized Biden's handling of the pro-Palestine protests, calling for legislative and disciplinary action to be taken against involved people.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., takes a question from reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP)
House Speaker Mike Johnson took a jab at President Joe Biden and his mishandling of the student protests that have emerged against the genocide in Gaza across US campuses.
Johnson told Axios, "the administration has been MIA for too long," and slammed Biden's decision not to employ the National Guard in protests. Biden on Thursday stated that students had the right to protest, not chaos, but noted that the National Guard would not be called up.
Responding to Biden's statement, Johnson said it was "outrageous" that he let the situation drag on this long before addressing it, adding that a plan should be instated to remove university presidents who haven't taken proper measures to stop the protests.
"In the end, he [Biden] needs to be ensuring accountability on these university officials that they have tolerated all the lawlessness on these campuses," he told Axios.
The US official also revealed that the House intends to take additional legislative action against actions that "endangered Jewish students". "We're going to be working on the federal funding streams that go to these schools that are violating civil rights laws and violating the Constitution and I think the president needs to be leading on that," Johnson said.
US House passes dangerous antisemitism bill, amid protests
This came a day after the United States House of Representatives passed legislation to update the definition of antisemitism for the enforcement of federal anti-discrimination laws concerning educational programs.
The bill, dubbed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, comes at a crucial time when students all over the United States are protesting the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
The updated definition will adopt the definition of antisemitism created by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). If eventually enforced, the definition would mark a grave turn of events for American citizens and residents opposing the Israeli occupation. The IHRA has spread dangerous rhetoric in which any action against the "state of Israel" would be considered anti-semitism.
In detail, the definition considers any expression of hatred toward Jews, including the "Jewish collectivity" or the "State of Israel", antisemitism.
President Joe Biden has accused protesters in dozens of universities across the United States of antisemitism for participating in protests calling on their universities to divest from the Israeli occupation.
Read more: College Democrats back protests, criticize Biden’s 'Israel' policy
