Netanyahu Calls Student Protests Antisemitic and Says They Must Be Quelled
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Wednesday that protests at U.S.universities against Israel’s war in Gaza were “horrific” and should be stopped, using his first public comments on the subject to castigate the student demonstrators and portray them as antisemitic.Mr.
Netanyahu’s comments could harden division over the demonstrations.They could also give ammunition to Republican leaders who have criticized the protesters and accused university administrators and Democrats of failing to protect Jewish students from attack.“What’s happening in America’s college campuses is horrific,” Mr.
Netanyahu said.“Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities.
They call for the annihilation of Israel.They attack Jewish students.
They attack Jewish faculty.”It was not immediately possible to solicit a response from the students, who are not organized into a single group.A relatively small number of students have staged protests for months at universities in different parts of the country to protest Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, which began after Hamas led an attack on Israel Oct.7 in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 others were taken hostage.
Since then, the authorities in Gaza say, more than 34,000 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and fighting, the majority of them women and children.The protesters’ main policy demand is that the U.S.government stop sending military aid to Israel.
Some students have also called on universities to stop investing in weapons manufacturers and to sell, or divest, holdings in funds and businesses they say profit from Israel’s invasion of Gaza and the occupation of Palestinian lands.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you f...